


Fictober 2019 Collection

by flowercrownfemme



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Drabble Collection, Eboy Harry Styles, F/F, Fall Carnivals, Fictober 2019, Fluff, Frankenstein Harry, Ghost Harry, Ghost Hunting, Ghost Niall, Girl Direction, Goth Louis, Halloween, Haunted Houses, Light Spookiness, M/M, Makeup, Mermaid Harry, Mild Blood, Mothman Harry, Movie: Lost Boys (1987), Past Character Death, Scooby Doo - Freeform, Supportive Louis Tomlinson, Swamp Creature Harry, TikTok, Vampire Harry, Vampire Louis, Vampire Zayn, Veronica (Best Song Ever) - Freeform, Werecat Louis, Werewolf Harry, Werewolf Liam, Werewolf Louis, Witch Harry, Zombie harry, fall/autumn, girl Zayn, girl harry, girl liam, girl louis, goth Harry, zombie louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-05 00:43:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 30,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21205751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowercrownfemme/pseuds/flowercrownfemme
Summary: A collection of all the Fictober fic babies I'm writing this month! The first chapter is a table of contents with a short description of each piece for easy navigating <3Features lots of monsters and creatures and Harry Styles being a general nightmare as well as a few Girl Direction drabbles and a timestamp for Fool For You and one for Treat Mothman With Kindness.





	1. Table of Contents

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I decided to post all the fic babies I've been posting on tumblr here but I'll still post the last few days' in both places. If you'd like to view any of these on tumblr they are all [on my blog tagged with #fictober](https://lesbianiconharrystyles.tumblr.com/tagged/fictober) <3

Page 1: Table of Contents

2: "It will be fun, trust me." - hay ride at a pumpkin patch

3: "Just follow me, I know the area." - ghost story, Louis meets Harry walking home alone at night

4: "Now? Now you listen to me?" - in which Harry gets stuck in a pumpkin

5: "I know you didn't ask for this." - Harry does Louis' makeup for Halloween

6: "I might just kiss you." - Harry jumps out at Louis in a haunted house and Louis punches him in the face

7: "Yes, I'm aware. Your point?" - they get hopelessly lost in a corn maze and possibly never return

8: "No, and that's final." - Harry refuses to go to the grocery store because there's a scarecrow outside that creeps him out

9: "Can you stay?" - girl!direction Louis is grounded on Halloween for defending Harry's honor so Harry sneaks into her room with candy

10: "There is a certain taste to it." - Louis makes pumpkin spice blood for his vampire boyfriend

11: "Listen, I can't explain it, you'll just have to trust me." - Harry has a baking channel on youtube and Louis eats a lot of cream cheese frosting

12: "It's not always like this." - werewolf Louis goes on a date with Harry too close to the full moon and also it's an allegory for being gay and nervous

13: "What if I don't see it?" - Harry wasn't invited to his crush's Halloween party so Louis takes him ghost hunting to take his mind off it

14: "I never knew it could be this way." - a fool for you timestamp!

15: "I can't come back." - girl!direction Louis finds mermaid Harry washed up on the beach

16: "That's what I'm talking about!" - Louis gets really into Halloween decorations and scaring children/Harry

17: "Listen. No, really listen." - goth Harry and goth Louis try to have sex in a cemetery but get scared

18: "There is just something about him." - treat mothman with kindness timestamp!

19: "Secrets? I love secrets." - Harry is teen frankenstein and he has a crush on Louis who hasn't noticed he's a classic movie monster

20: "Yes, I admit it, you were right." - goth teen Harry breaks into Louis' house because he heard he's a vampire and he wants Louis to bite him

21: "You could talk about it, you know?" - Harry is acting suspicious at the carnival because he's been banned for life from the petting zoo

22: "Change is annoyingly difficult." - scooby doo au where Louis is Shaggy and Harry is Fred and he wears a gay little ascot

23: "We could have a chance." - girl!direction Louis and Harry are contestants in a pumpkin carving contest at school

24: "You can't give more than yourself." - girl!direction Harry is a witch trying to cast a spell to make Louis notice her

25: "Patience... is not something I'm known for." - (another) girl!direction Harry and Louis are werewolf girlfriends and Harry's shift is late

26: "I could really eat something." - lost boys au part one, Harry is new in town and meets Louis at the boardwalk

27: "You keep me warm." - Louis is a full shift werewolf and Harry is his boyfriend who likes cuddling with his wolf form

28: "Can you wait for me?" - Harry and Louis are zombie boyfriends who come out of their graves once a year on Halloween to eat candy and kiss

29: "Enough! I heard enough!" - They're all baby monsters at a monster sleep over telling scary stories about humans

30: "I'm doing this for you." - Alternate universe where the x factor never happened and now Harry Styles is a tiktok eboy (the scariest thing I've written this month) 

31: "I'm with you, you know that." - girl!direction vampire sorority, Harry can't sleep so Louis invites her to share her coffin

32: "Scared, me?" - lost boys au part two, more spooky stuff happens and Harry finally gets some answers (and maybe a spooky supernatural boyfriend??) 


	2. "It will be fun, trust me."

Louis knew exactly where Harry was headed when he saw his eyes light up.

“C’mon,” Harry grinned, already halfway to the big tractor, a pumpkin curled in each arm.

“A hay ride?” Louis asked, trailing behind him with the bigger pumpkin they’d chosen for their front porch. “You know it only goes in a circle, and it’s so slow it takes about ten minutes. It’s for kids.”

“So?” Harry said, waiting for the last round of kids to climb off of the low trailer and run to their awaiting parents. “It will be fun, trust me.”

The sun was nearly set and it was a school night so most of the kids had already gone home, leaving Harry and Louis as the only passengers on the last hay ride of the night. They climbed up and sank down into the piles of sweet yellow hay, tucking their pumpkins in around them.

“Y’all settled in back there?” the man on the tractor called. Harry raised his hand with a thumbs up and the man started the engine, pulling the whole thing forward with a sudden lurch. Louis rested his head against Harry’s shoulder and looked out over the pumpkin patch, watching the few remaining kids run around and jump over vines, throwing handfuls of hay into the air, some lying limply against their parent’s shoulders or asleep in little wagons tucked between piles of pumpkins. The last few rays of the setting sun illuminated the rows of corn that bordered the patch, dusting them in a bright gold, and the slow steady motion of the tractor could have easily lulled him to sleep. It might have, if not for Harry’s twitching and twisting beside him.

“Hey, Babe?” Harry asked, arching his back and jerking his shoulder around. “Can people be allergic to hay?”

Louis let out a quick snort of laughter until Harry whacked his arm.

“It’s itchy,” Harry frowned, rubbing his hand over the sleeve of his jumper, the pink and orange stripes of mohair knotted up with bits of straw. When he pulled back the sleeve his forearm was mottled with patches of reddish pink.

“Poor darling,” Louis tutted, brushing his cool fingers over the heated pink skin. “Shall we ask to get off?”

“No.” Harry glanced up towards the tractor. “I just need to get out of the hay.”

“That might be a bit hard,” Louis told him, trying to hide his amusement, “seeing as this is a hay ride. Just about everything is hay.”

“Let me just - ” Harry began to climb over Louis, twisting around and worming his way onto his lap.

“Oof!” Louis let out a strangled breath when a stray elbow hit him straight in the diaphragm.

Finally Harry had laid himself fully over Louis, his head tucked against his shoulder and his arms crossed in front of him to keep every inch of himself away from the straw.

“That’s better,” he sighed, twisting his neck to kiss Louis’ cheek. “Ooh look, the stars are coming out.”

“Lovely,” Louis croaked from beneath him.

“Can you breathe okay?”

“Not at all.”

Harry twisted again, punching the last of Louis’ breath from his lungs as he rolled himself onto his stomach.

“How’s that?” he asked once they were lying chest to chest and he had a knee between Louis’ to hold himself up on.

“Bit better,” Louis said, looping his arms around Harry’s waist to keep him still.

“I think I might hate hay rides,” Harry said, the tips of their noses pressed together.

“Oh really?” Louis laughed, the bouncing of his chest making Harry laugh too as he was jostled about.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded, tucking his nose against Louis’ cheek and preening when Louis began to pick the loose stalks of straw from his hair. “We should do this without all the hay. Have a gay ride instead.”

“It’s a plan,” Louis grinned, tossing the handful of straw he’d rescued from Harry’s head back into the piles around them. “No more hay from now on.”


	3. "Follow me, I know the area."

Louis didn’t see him at first, not until the street lights hit him just right. He was walking home late from a party, his body still buzzing with a few remaining drops of vodka, and there was a pretty boy just across the street walking alone. Louis wasn’t quite sober enough to be looking anywhere but the ground while he walked so when the sidewalk was kicked up by a tree root beneath the concrete he stumbled forward, cursing under his breath. When he looked up the boy was looking back at him, an amused smile on his face.

“Are you coming from Stan’s place too?” Louis called across the road.

“No,” the boy shook his head.

“You don’t go to Hall Cross, do you?”

“No,” the boy said again.

“I’m Louis.”

“Harry.”

“Do you mind if I walk with you?”

“No.”

Louis glanced behind himself before crossing the street, falling into step beside the other boy.

“So what are you doing out so late, Harry?”

“Same as you,” Harry smiled. Up close Louis could see deep dimples in his cheeks. “I was at a party.”

“A good one?” Louis asked.

“It was alright,” Harry shrugged. “Yours?”

“It was fine.”

“Did you kiss anyone?” Harry asked with a wry smile.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Louis laughed. “I’m a gentleman. I don’t kiss and tell.”

They kept walking for a moment in silence, autumn leaves crunching beneath their feet.

“What about you?” Louis asked. “Did you kiss anyone tonight?”

“Nah,” Harry shook his head. “It’s been a while since I’ve kissed anyone.”

“That’s a shame.”

The breeze picked up around them and Harry shivered. He was only wearing a t-shirt, where Louis had a worn denim jacket over a thick grey sweatshirt, and his pale arms were littered with goose pimples.

“Here,” Louis said, shrugging out of his jacket and holding it out. “You must be freezing.”

“I’m fine,” Harry tried to brush him off but Louis insisted.

“I told you, I’m a gentleman.”

Harry pulled on the jacket and immediately buried his hands deep in the pockets.

“Thank you,” he said, looking as though he’d shrink down and crawl inside the jacket if he could.

“Where are you headed?” Louis asked, realizing they’d been walking the same direction for at least ten minutes.

“I live over on Lily Street. Just off of Park Road.”

“I live on Pine Crest,” Louis grinned. “I can’t believe I haven’t seen you before. Have you lived there long?”

“A while,” Harry shrugged. “I don’t go out much.”

“You know there’s a shortcut through the trees here,” Louis nodded towards the small forest they were currently circling. “We could cut right through and save ourselves at least fifteen minutes.”

“And get ourselves hopelessly lost in the process?”

“Just follow me,” Louis smirked. “I know the area.”

In a fit of bravery he caught Harry’s hand in his own, pulling him into the shadows of the trees. As they sunk deeper into the forest the streetlights were snuffed out by the thick clusters of leaves and they were left in a murky darkness.

“It’s this way,” Louis said confidently, tugging Harry along behind him as he wove through the trees and stepped over fallen logs. A thick fog settled over them the further they strayed from the path, swirling around them and making them huddle closer together against the cold. “I can’t see a thing,” Louis muttered after nearly walking into a tree for the second time.

When he glanced back at Harry he found him just inches away, his eyes seeming to glow even in the dark of the forest.

“It should clear soon,” Harry said, stepping closer until he was all Louis could see.

“Yeah,” Louis agreed easily, finding himself pressed against the trunk of an old oak tree. “We can always wait.”

Louis traced his fingers over the curve of Harry’s jaw, marveling at the soft moonlike glow of his skin and the way his wispy curls seemed to melt into the fog. He felt Harry’s breath on his lips, nearly as cold as the wind, and tilted his head until his lips met Harry’s. Louis deepened the kiss immediately, curling his hand behind Harry’s head and feeling lanky arms wrap around his waist, pulling him closer. He felt Harry’s tongue, soft but cool against his lips, and opened his mouth to him, as if he could breathe warmth straight into him.

At last he pulled away to catch his breath, leaning back against the tree as Harry kissed closer to his ear.

“Thank you,” he heard whispered softly.

Louis opened his eyes, freezing as his smile turned to a puzzled frown.

The fog had vanished from the forest around him, and so had Harry. He called out for the other boy, circling the oak tree and searching the surrounding area until finally he gave up. He walked home shivering in the cold, waiting for Harry to emerge from the trees, but he never did. When he finally rounded onto his street and saw his house in the distance there was a worn denim jacket hanging from the front porch, the arms blowing limply in the wind.


	4. "Now? Now you listen to me?"

“How did you even _get_ in there?” Louis asked, exasperated.

“I don’t know,” Harry pouted, nothing but his head and neck visible, “but I’m stuck.”

“I told you you would be,” Louis sighed.

That morning Jay had sent out photos of the babies curled up in hollowed out pumpkins and Harry had reasoned that the huge pumpkin in their front yard was probably big enough for him to sit in if he emptied it out.

“I’m not sure that it is,” Louis had tried to reason. “You know the skin must be at least three inches thick. It would probably take you forever to cut through and even then I don’t think there’d be enough space left inside. Not unless you cut it clean in half like a bowl.”

“That wouldn’t be the same,” Harry argued. “It wouldn’t even look like a pumpkin then. That’s the whole point. It’s only cute if you can tell I’m in a pumpkin.”

“And what if you can fit yourself in there and you get stuck?”

“I won’t get stuck,” Harry said confidently.

But four hours later and he was, for all intents and purposes, truly stuck.

“I can’t get my shoulders back through the hole,” he said, wiggling around and making more orange goop splatter up on his cheek.

“Could we cut it?” Louis asked, crouching beside the pumpkin. “Maybe widen the hole?”

“No!” Harry frowned. “My skin is there!”

“Hmm.” Louis ran his fingers over the crudely cut hole as if he might find a weak point that would break the whole thing apart.

“What if you just pick it up,” Harry suggested, “and you drop it on something hard so it breaks?”

“Love, I could barely lift the pumpkin without you inside of it,” Louis reminded him. “I don’t think I could go tossing you into the street in it.”

“Maybe you could call Liam?” 

“Sure, why don’t I call up everyone I know and tell them my husband’s gotten himself stuck in a vegetable,” Louis snarked.

“It’s _cute_,” Harry argued. “I look like an Anne Geddes baby and you don’t even _appreciate_ it.”

“I took the picture for you,” Louis countered. “I put the stem back on your head every time it fell off and I scratched your nose for you and I drug a chair out here so the angle was right. What more do you want?”

“I want you to _help_ me!”

“I’m_ trying_ to help you,” Louis insisted. “Maybe it would be easier if you weren’t yelling at me!”

Harry clenched his jaw, narrowing his eyes and turning up his nose. If he could move at all he’d probably have turned around.

“Oh, _now? Now_ you listen to me?” Louis asked. “Not when I told you repeatedly that this was a bad idea?”

Harry’s nostrils flared angrily.

Louis let out a long breath, sagging down beside the pumpkin. He studied the way Harry was chewing on the inside of his lip and staring hard into the distance, the way he did when he was trying not to cry.

“I’m sorry,” Louis said at last. “I’m just frustrated because I don’t know how to help.”

Harry swallowed and looked down at the ground.

“Are we going to have to call the fire department?” he asked quietly. “I’m going to feel very stupid if they have to come cut me out.”

“No,” Louis said, crawling back to his knees and tucking some loose hair behind Harry’s ear. “I mean, maybe. But let’s try again. We’ll only call as the last resort.”

Harry nodded and Louis stood up, trying to assess the situation from above.

“I think the hole is a bit wider on one side than the other,” he said. “If you can twist yourself just right you and you use the pumpkin guts as lube you might be able to slip out.”

“Don’t call it that,” Harry wrinkled his nose.

“What? Pumpkin guts? Or lube?” Louis asked, guiding Harry as best he could while leaning over him.

“All of it.”

Louis stopped him when he got to the right spot and told him to push up. Harry wriggled his shoulders and pushed as hard as he could, some of the pumpkin cracking around him as his shoulders finally broke free.

“You did it!” Louis cheered, grabbing hold of his upper arms and helping to pull. Soon Harry could worm his arms out and hold onto Louis who dragged him out onto the lawn. “Congratulations,” Louis panted when they were both sprawled on the ground and covered in pumpkin seeds and orange goo. “It’s a boy.”

“Shut up,” Harry said with a relieved smile, leaning up to press a pumpkin flavored kiss to Louis’ lips.


	5. "I know you didn't ask for this."

Louis liked having his makeup done, he decided, at least when Harry was the one doing it. The only times he’d had it done before were when his sisters wanted to practice or when one of the theater girls grabbed him and slapped powder and eyeliner on him backstage. All those times he’d been flinching and his eyes had been watering, the whole ordeal feeling like something designed to make him spill every secret he’d ever held, but not with Harry.

When Harry had offered to do his makeup for Halloween Louis had nearly said no, remembering all the times he’d been poked in the eye with mascara wands, but it was Harry, his roommate of nearly six months who he was hopelessly hopelessly in love with, so he said yes.

“As long as it’s scary, Harold,” he’d said, trying not to be distracted by Harry’s delighted smile. “I promised my mum I’d take the kids trick-or-treating and I don’t want any confused mums trying to hit on me.”

“Is that a recurring problem?” Harry laughed.

“What, are you doubting the firey passion I ignite in lonely women?” Louis sniggered. “The marriage proposals slow down our route by hours every year. I need something to scare them off.”

Louis had tensed up when Harry lead him to their small kitchen table and he saw makeup spread across it, little plastic pallets of grease paint and vials of thick syrupy fake blood mixed in with tubes of lipstick and jars of cosmetic glitter. The costumey makeup was all brand new but the rest of it looked well used.

“Here,” Harry said, guiding him into one of the chairs and pulling up the other for himself. He scooted closer until their legs were slotted together, resting his right elbow on the edge of the table. “What are you wearing tonight?”

“Just this, I guess,” Louis shrugged, gesturing to his oversized grey jumper. He’d had it for years and the knit was starting to come undone in places, leaving it looking moth eaten and ancient.

“So you don’t have a costume?” Harry frowned.

“I thought the makeup stuff was my costume.”

Harry just chewed on his lip, looking from the makeup on the table to Louis’ face and back.

“What do you want to be, then?”

“Whatever you want to do,” Louis shrugged again. “I don’t mind. Just make it scary. The gory-er the better.”

“Alright.”

Louis clenched his eyes shut when Harry touched his face for the first time, surprised when all he felt was the caress of a soft fluffy brush. It swirled across his brow and down his nose, circling his cheeks and chin. He heard Harry rummaging through the supplies on the table, switching brushes every so often, and gradually he began to relax. Occasionally Harry would brush his fingers over Louis’ face, cleaning up a line with the side of his thumb or swiping something gently over Louis’ eyelids. A few times he leaned in and blew over Louis’ cheeks, making Louis’ breath stutter at the feeling of being surrounded by him.

“There,” Harry said with one final swipe of the brush over the tip of Louis’ nose.

Louis opened his eyes blearily, blinking at the sudden light.

“You’re done?”

Harry’s eyes darted around his face before he leaned back in, rubbing the tip of his finger against Louis’ temple, right at his hairline. “Now I am.”

“Can I see?” Louis asked eagerly.

“Yeah, of course,” Harry smiled, laughing lightly as he stood up and made his way towards the mirror in the hallway, pulling Louis along behind him by the hand.

Louis waited until they were stood in front of the mirror to look up, his lips parting in surprise when he did.

“Do you like it?” Harry asked, watching him through the mirror. “I know it’s not _exactly_ what you asked for but you said I could do whatever I wanted.”

Louis pursed his lips.

“You made me a butterfly.”

“No I didn’t,” Harry frowned, rounding to see him face to face. “You’re a moth, they’re different. Moths are scary.”

“Harry, there’s glitter.”

“It adds dimension.”

Louis looked at himself again in the mirror and began to laugh.

“Do you really think moths are scary?” he asked through the laughter, falling back against the wall and holding his stomach.

“Do you not?” Harry countered, his own laughter bubbling up. Soon they were bent together, holding each other up as they laughed, tears welling in their eyes. When they’d finally calmed there were smears of silver glitter on Harry’s shirt from where Louis’ face had pressed against his shoulder. Louis tried to brush it away with his fingers but he was only rubbing it further into the fabric. Harry covered his hand with his own to still him.

“It looks very nice,” Louis told him with a grin, “but I’m not sure it’ll be scaring anyone off. I think you might just have to come with us and do that for me.”

“I’d love to,” Harry beamed, pulling him close and smearing his makeup even more.


	6. "I might just kiss you."

Louis made his way through the haunted house thoughtfully, almost clinically. His sisters had been asking for weeks to go but he kept thinking about when he was sixteen and they convinced him to take them to a horror movie and then got so scared they all slept on the floor of his room for a week. They were older now but he still decided to go alone first to vet it out. Even if he didn’t live at home anymore he didn’t doubt that they’d all be on his doorstep with sleeping bags if he let them get scared.

A giant jack-in-the-box popped open with a maniacally laughing clown inside and he just frowned at it, wondering if Daisy would be frightened by the gore dripping down his chin or if Lottie was still freaked out by clowns. He kept walking through, almost wishing he’d brought a clipboard to make notes on. He’d been through six differently themed rooms connected by long winding hallways and he hadn’t seen anything too terrible. He felt fairly confident that there wasn’t anything in the place his sisters couldn’t handle.

There was just one hallway left leading to the exit, lined on each side with a row of prop dummies dressed as monsters. Louis walked confidently towards the glowing exit sign, relieved that he could go home bearing good news for his sisters.

Suddenly one of the dummies leapt out at him with a loud roar as he passed and Louis let out a shriek, jumping a foot in the air and throwing his arm out by instinct. There was a crunch as his fist collided with the face of the not-dummy, pain erupting across his knuckles.

“Ow!” the not-dummy cried, cupping his hands over his face and doubling over.

“Shit!” Louis winced, shaking out his hand. “Fuck, I’m sorry.”

“Oww,” the other man said again, pulling his hands from his face only to see them covered in blood. “I’m bleeding!”

“You are,” Louis affirmed, leaning down to try and get a look at him. The only lights in the room were a few black lights obscured by fake spider webs so he couldn’t see anything but a shadowy face with a dark smear across it. “C’mon.”

He put his hand on the man’s shoulder and steered him towards the exit. The man kept touching his face and then looking at the blood on his hands in shock, whispering “I’m bleeding” each time. Louis squinted hard when they got through the exit door, even the dim twilight light too bright after so long in the dark house.

“Fuck,” Louis said again once he got a better look at the man’s face. “Sorry.”

“You punched me in the face.”

“You startled me,” Louis said defensively.

“It’s a haunted house, that’s the point.” The man’s voice had a nasally tinge that Louis suspected was only due to his bleeding nose.

“I’m sorry,” Louis told him, glancing around at the autumnal bake sale that had sprung up around the haunted house. “Let’s find you some napkins and then I’ll buy you a cider or something, okay?”

The man just looked at him.

“Hot chocolate.”

“Sure,” Louis amended. “I’ll buy you a hot chocolate.”

The man’s eyes remained narrowed but he agreed, following Louis as he found a stack of napkins and grabbed the whole thing, nicking a bottle of water for good measure. Louis lead them to a picnic table off to the side and they each straddled the same bench, facing each other.

“Fuck, you’re really bleeding,” Louis frowned, noticing the blood soaking the collar of the man’s costume. He was wearing a classic sort of vampire costume, a billowy high-neck blouse with a black velvet cape and grey shadows under his eyes. There was even a small widow’s peak painted at his hairline with black greasepaint.

“Do you think it’s broken?” he asked, looking worried.

“I’m not sure,” Louis said honestly. “I think we need to clean you up first.”

He poured some of the water over a wad of napkins and began to wipe up some of the blood on the man’s face, holding his chin with one hand and using the other to dab around his nose as gently as he could.

“I’m Louis, by the way,” Louis said while mopping up some of the blood that had been pooling under the man’s chin.

“Harry,” he replied, letting Louis tilt his head where he wanted it.

“I really am sorry,” Louis told him. “I didn’t mean to hit you.”

“It’s fine,” Harry sighed. “It’s not the first time it’s happened. Occupational hazard and all. Can’t say I’ve been punched in the nose before though.”

“I hope it’s not broken.” Louis leaned back, just a reddish stain left on Harry’s skin. “It’d be a shame to ruin such a pretty face.”

Harry opened his mouth but Louis was already pressing a fresh napkin to his nose before he could reply.

“Here, hold this until the bleeding stops. I’m going to go get your hot chocolate.”

He wove through the dying crowd to the drink stand and bought two cups of hot chocolate, meeting the loud Irishman who ran the haunted house who readily agreed that Harry should take the rest of the night off, then brought the steaming styrofoam cups back to their picnic table. There they sat until there was a small stack of empty cups on the table in front of them and all the booths had been packed up for the night.

“I should really be heading home,” Louis said reluctantly, a new contact saved in his phone. “And you should really see a doctor in the morning if that thing swells at all.”

“I told you,” Harry grinned, “I bleed easy. It doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

“Just don’t go jumping out at any more unsuspecting bystanders - not everybody’s as sweet and lovely as me.”

“Of course,” Harry nodded dutifully. “I’ll only ever jump out at you from now on. You’ve got a really high pitched scream, you know.”

“Nah, that won’t work,” Louis smirked. “I don’t think you can scare me anymore. If I saw your face flying at me now I think violence would be the last thing on my mind.”

“Oh yeah?” Harry asked with a wry smile. “If you’re not gonna punch me anymore then what will you do when I scare you?”

“Who’s to say?” Louis said fancifully. “Next time I might just kiss you.”


	7. "Yes, I'm aware. Your point?"

Walking hand-in-hand through a corn maze in the late evening had sounded so romantic. It _had_ been - for maybe the first five minutes, back when there was still a bit of light to see by and the tightly woven stalks of corn were still retaining some warmth from the sun and everything smelled sweet and earthy. At first it had been cute ducking under wayward leaves and kissing when they found themselves at a dead end. It started feeling less cute when it was pitch black out and getting cold and both of their stomachs were grumbling.

“We’ve already been through this way,” Harry said, pulling his lace sleeve from where it had gotten snagged on some prickly leaves.

“No we haven’t,” Louis frowned. “That bit up there is different.”

“But there’s that scarecrow that scared us last time.” Harry pointed to the crucified figure looming above them.

“It didn’t scare me,” Louis argued.

“Yeah it did,” Harry said. “You yelped really loud and those girls made fun of us.”

“Those girls really should learn some manners,” Louis grumbled. “I should have a word with their mothers.”

“Of course,” Harry placated. “They were quite rude. I think we took a left up here last time, let’s take a right this time.”

They continued on, turning corners and groaning every time they hit a dead end.

“Wait, Louis, hold on,” Harry called after Louis when the other man got ahead of him. “My heel’s stuck again.”

Louis sighed and retraced his steps, letting Harry hold his shoulder while he wiggled his foot to try and free it. Some of the dirt had turned to mud and it kept sucking in the heel of his shoe with a vice-like grip.

“I’d say I told you you should wear comfortable shoes, you know, if I was the kind of person to say ‘I told you so,’” Louis told him. “We wouldn’t have to keep stopping if you’d worn flat shoes.”

“But they’re _orange_,” Harry pouted. “_Pumpkin_ orange. How many opportunities are there to wear pumpkin orange boots?”

“I’m not sure this really counts as one of those opportunities, Love.”

“They’re _seasonal_,” Harry insisted. “Plus they go with my trousers.”

They heard some sniggering to their left and looked up to see the gang of twelve year old girls from before watching them through the wall of corn.

“Oi, fuck off,” Louis told them, waving his arm as if he could shoo them away.

“Your boyfriend dresses like he’s going to a clown disco,” one of the girls laughed.

Harry scoffed, looking offended.

“I do not!” he frowned, trying to turn towards them and nearly breaking his ankle when he tripped over his still-trapped foot.

Louis caught him with a supportive arm around his waist. “Yeah, he does not,” he said, even if did agree with the girls just a bit.

“You know we’ve already been through here five times since you came in,” one of the other girls told them. “You suck at mazes.”

“Well you suck at - ” Harry sneered, scrambling for something that might hurt the girl’s feelings. “Algebra!”

“I’m in an advanced placement maths actually,” the girl countered, “and I have perfect grades.”

“Oh,” Harry frowned. “Well. Good for you. It’s really important for young girls to feel pride in their intelligence and I hope you know that you can do anything you want in life and go into any field because a lot of women - ”

“Babe,” Louis shook his head, grabbing him around the middle and yanking him free, dragging him away from the girls. “Let’s go.”

“I was just - ”

“Not the time.”

They kept going, slipping over the straw on the ground and getting tangled in the occasional loose bit of twine until they got back to a familiar sight.

“_Jesus!_” Louis jumped, clutching his chest and looking up at the dark shadowy scarecrow. “Fuck!”

“Lou, I think we went in another circle.”

“Yes, I’m aware. You’re point?”

“How do we get out?” Harry asked. “I feel like we’ve been in here for hours.”

“If I knew how to get out we’d have gotten out already, wouldn’t we?”

“What if we leave ourselves a trail?” Harry suggested. “Drop breadcrumbs or summat.”

“Do you have any breadcrumbs?” Louis asked.

“No,” Harry frowned. Then his eyes locked on Louis’ baseball cap. “Gimme your hat.”

“What?”

Harry grabbed the hat from his head and started down another hall of corn, dropping the hat at his feet. Louis frowned down at the hat but sighed, following after him. They kept stripping off layers, leaving a trail of clothes behind them as they went.

“Take off your boots,” Louis said ten minutes later when they were trying to rule out another long dead end.

“Do I have to?” Harry asked, already rid of his lace blouse, his newsboy cap and his white undershirt. “I don’t want to get straw between my toes.” He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

Louis, shoeless and down to just his t-shirt and boxers, glared at him until he kicked off his shoes.

“Look!” Louis cried early half an hour later, pressing his face against a less dense wall of corn and peering excitedly at an opening in the corn just down the next aisle. “I think I see the exit! If we can just get through here we’ll be free!”

“There it is!” Harry grinned in relief, looking between the leaves.

“I think I can squeeze through this gap here,” Louis said, bending down and pulling a few stalks of corn to the side to widen the gap until he could fit his shoulders through. Harry helped steady him as he lifted his leg and stepped over the twine binding the cornstalks and fell gently onto the ground on the other side. “C’mon!”

He gestured encouragingly for Harry to follow him but when Harry tried he immediately got caught on the twine and lost his balance, falling into the wall and breaking the stalks around him, landing in a pile of corn and leaves and straw and limbs. Louis took his hands and pulled him to his feet.

“Oww,” Harry whined, trying to look at the scratches now littering his whole body.

“We’re free!” Louis whooped, dragging Harry along as they stumbled towards the opening, both of them in just their pants, covered in dirt and leaves and cornsilk, a feral sort of look in their eyes.

They collapsed to the ground as they stepped into the open, bathing in the moonlight and laughing in relief.

“We’re free!” Harry cried.

“I love you!” Louis laughed, his body relaxing into dirt and straw beneath them.

Harry rolled over onto Louis’ chest, freezing when he saw the sign beside them.

“Oh no,” he said, the smile dropping from his face.

“What?” Louis asked, sitting up.

“We didn’t make it to the end. That was the entrance we came out of. We’ve got to go back in. That’s cheating.”

Louis groaned by nodded.

“You’re right,” he said, resigned. “C’mon.”

Together they drug themselves back up, walking dejectedly back into the maze.


	8. "No, and that's final."

“C’mon, you can do it,” Louis said, trying to sound encouraging. He’d been tugging on Harry’s hand for at least five minutes but he still wouldn’t budge and people were looking at them.

“No, absolutely not,” Harry shook his head. “That’s final.”

“Please, Harry,” Louis sighed. “This is the only grocery store for twenty five miles that has cinnamon oreos and french toast cereal and that fabric softener you like. We can’t just not come here for two months each year just because you don’t like the scarecrow they put out.”

“That _scarecrow_,” Harry fumed, “happens to be a demonic presence sent here to torment me, and I never said _you_ couldn’t go inside. If you want to go join his cult and sacrifice babies that’s up to you. I’ll just wait in the car until you’re finished with the ritual.”

“Babe, it’s been four years now. You can’t avoid going to the store every fall for the rest of your life. What if we have kids someday and you run out of diapers on October 3rd and I’m not home?”

“We’ll just stockpile at the start of September,” Harry said flippantly. “I wouldn’t want to expose our children to that demon.”

“It’s just a scarecrow,” Louis tried again, gesturing to where the burlap-faced doll was propped behind a tub of pumpkins.

“I saw it move once,” Harry said, glaring at the cheerful smile painted on its face. “That time you made me come alone and kept saying nothing would happen. I watched it while I was walking past and it _moved_.”

“It was probably just the wind,” Louis told him, squeezing his hands. “Wouldn’t you like to overcome this fear? Wouldn’t you feel so _free_ without it? You could come here whenever you wanted to! Your life wouldn’t be ruled by a sack of rags!”

“That’s exactly what he wants,” Harry said, speaking more to the scarecrow than to Louis. “He’d just love for me to lower my guard so he can scoop me up in his evil scarecrow arms and drag me off to be his scarecrow bride! Well tough luck, Buddy, _I’m already married!_”

Harry held up his left hand and pointed to his ring finger, showing his ring to the decoration.

“Yes, we sure are married,” Louis sighed. “What if I said I wouldn’t kiss you until you went inside?”

“You wouldn’t.” Harry narrowed his eyes. “You love kissing me.”

“And you love kissing me,” Louis countered. He took a step back towards the entrance of the store. “It’s just a few steps really, Love. Then all the kisses you want.”

Harry looked from Louis to the scarecrow nervously.

“_Louis…_” he whined, tapping his foot anxiously against the sidewalk.

“C’mon, Darling,” Louis said, standing just inside the automatic doors with his arms held wide. “You’re nearly there already.”

Harry glanced at the scarecrow again, frowning at the taunting jeer on its face. He clenched his fists and ran past it, throwing himself into Louis’ arms.

“You did it!” Louis cheered. “I’m so proud of you.”

Harry buried his face against Louis’ neck, breathing hard, oblivious to the shoppers around them giving them odd looks. When he pulled back Louis rewarded him with the promised kiss, having to shuffle them over to the side after a moment when an old woman couldn’t push her shopping trolley past them and was starting to get annoyed.

“Just think,” Louis grinned, “if we keep coming back you might get more comfortable and soon you won’t even need me here!”

“Yeah…” Harry said uneasily, turning back to look at the entrance.

The scarecrow had turned around, its beady black button eyes pointed straight at Harry.


	9. "Can you stay?"

Louis couldn’t believe she was grounded on Halloween night. She’d expected her mum to cave at the last minute, to let her take her siblings trick-or-treating. She was seventeen and she figured it had to be one of, if not _the_ last Halloween where she could get away with filling her own bag of treats along with the kids. She wasn’t much taller than Lottie but even last year a few people had given her looks when she held out her sack. She kept waiting for her mum to come knock on her door and tell her she was allowed to go but the kids had left nearly an hour ago and the possibility of joining them felt more and more like a lost cause. Louis resigned herself to a pitiful night of cheesy horror movies and microwaved popcorn, sucking sadly on one of the sugar-free lollipops she’d found in the back of the cupboard.

The punishment felt wildly unfitting for the crime, if you asked Louis. She’d wanted to murder Tyler Macintire when he groped Harry in the hallway at school, laughing at her shook and indignation and leaving her tugging self consciously at the skirt of her costume for the rest of the day. Louis had wrapped her best friend in a tight hug and swore she’d cut the boy’s hands off. Sneaking out and egging the footie captain’s house the night before Halloween should have been an easily forgivable crime, if she had stopped at the eggs. She’d also launched an attack of glue, toilet paper, chocolate pudding and three cans worth of clam chowder. All that might even have been forgivable, if she hadn’t also felt inclined to pour half a sack of sugar into the gas tank of his car, effectively ruining the engine. Her mum had been highly sympathetic to her cause, just as protective of Harry as Louis was, but she still insisted on punishing her.

Louis heard a tap against her window and pressed the space bar on her laptop to pause the movie. She tilted her her towards the window and listened, a whole string of tapping ringing out. When she stood and pulled back the curtain she saw Harry peering in at her, standing on her tip-toes to see over the window sill and grinning.

Louis quickly pulled the window open and leaned out.

“What are you doing here?” she hissed. “It’s Halloween.”

“I know,” Harry smiled. “I couldn’t let you spend it alone. Not after everything you’ve done for me. Help me up, yeah?”

She threw her backpack through the window onto Louis’ floor and raised her arms for Louis to take hold of. They’d perfected the art of sneaking Harry through her window years ago, Louis pulling her up while she walked her feet up the side of the house and then hobbled over the sill. Together they collapsed onto the ground in a heap.

“I brought you a present,” Harry said, pulling her backpack onto her lap and unzipping it, producing an old pillow case weighted with something heavy and lumpy. She tossed it to Louis who found it filled with Halloween candy. “I know your mum doesn’t let you guys buy candy the whole month until Halloween. I thought you might need a pick-me-up.”

“Thank you,” Louis groaned, falling back against the side of her bed as if in ecstasy. “You’re a life saver.”

“I should be thanking _you_,” Harry said softly. “You didn’t have to do any of that. It’s my fault you’re stuck in here tonight.”

“Shut up,” Louis frowned, pulling Harry into her side and throwing her arms around her. “It’s that asshole’s fault, not yours. Trust me, I’d happily be grounded for the rest of my life for you.”

“I love you,” Harry said, just as she had a thousand times before, resting her head on Louis’ shoulder.

“I love you too.”

Louis pulled a pack of Smarties from the bag and tore open the package, pouring half of the candies into Harry’s hand.

“I’m almost at the end of _Scream_ if you wanna watch _The Worst Witch_ with me,” Louis offered.

“Please,” Harry grinned.

They climbed up onto Louis’ bed and settled against the headboard with her laptop balanced on their knees and the half-finished popcorn bowl tucked between them. Louis didn’t notice until halfway through the movie that they’d both put their hands in the bowl and forgotten to grab any popcorn, leaving their oily fingers pressed together mindlessly atop the long-cold kernels. Louis left her hand where it was.

When the credits started to roll Louis looked over to find Harry slumped against her with her eyes closed.

“Are you asleep?” Louis whispered.

“Yes,” Harry said, breaking her serene expression with a smile.

“Can you stay over?”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded, opening her eyes and yawning. “I told my mum I was sleeping at Niall’s house and Niall’s mum is still rooting for us to get married so you know she’ll cover for us.”

“What was that about Niall’s mum?” Louis snorted.

“Oh I thought Niall told you about that,” Harry laughed. “Her mum’s been trying to predict when we’ll get together. Every time I go over I have to tell her I haven’t kissed you yet.”

“Niall’s mum is crazy,” Louis shook her head, her brain circling around the word _yet_ as Harry slid between her sheets and turned over, waiting for Louis to settle in behind her for a cuddle.


	10. "There is a certain taste to it."

Harry awoke just as night fell, yawning and stretching his limbs in the pitch black room. He could hear a strong thumping heartbeat on the other side of the apartment along with creaking floorboards and the soft clink of metal and ceramic. He curiously sniffed the air and sat up, intrigued by the mix of smells floating from the kitchen. He pulled on his silk dressing gown and made his way silently down the hallway.

“Babe!” Louis called when he stepped into the kitchen, his face lighting up. “I’ve got a surprise for you!”

Harry continued to inhale deeply through his nose as Louis rounded the small island and held out his favorite bat-printed mug.

“What’s this?” Harry asked, taking the steaming mug into his ice cold hands and holding it under his chin, closing his eyes as the steam wafted over his face. “It smells divine.”

“Try it,” Louis instructed excitedly.

Harry lifted the mug to his lips and took a sip, shivering as the thick liquid warmed his throat.

“Mmm,” he sighed contentedly, swaying on his feet.

“You like it?” Louis grinned. “I put something special in it.”

“Yes, there _is_ a certain taste to it,” Harry smiled over the rim of the mug.

“You said the other day you missed pumpkin spice flavors this time of year so I found a recipe online for the spices to use. I heated up one of your blood bags and did all the spices just like it said.” Louis rarely liked to cook and he looked incredibly proud of himself.

“It’s amazing,” Harry said, wrapping his arms around Louis and holding the mug at the small of his back. “Thank you.”

He pressed a grateful kiss over the pulse point of Louis’ neck, his usually cold lips warmed by the pumpkin-spice-blood.

“I’m glad you like it,” Louis told him, returning the embrace and kissing the side of his head. “A touch of death shouldn’t stop you from enjoying all the finer things of life.”

“I’ve got all the finest things right here,” Harry said, squeezing him tight.


	11. "Listen, I can't explain it, you'll have to trust me."

“Look at these beautiful little babies!” Harry crooned as he arranged the tiny cooled bundt cakes on the counter. “Now we can start to cut these down into nice squat little pumpkins. You don’t want them to be too tall, do you?”

He easily cut the cakes down and showed how they’d look once he’d iced the flat sides together and turned them into spherical balls.

“Let’s make some nice thick cream cheese frosting to use as glue here and then we can pipe some into the center to fill it in.”

He went to his stand mixer and went through his usual method for cream cheese frosting, adding in the ingredients he’d measured out into little glass bowls before he started filming.

“I like to add just a pinch of salt,” he explained over the loud sound of the mixer. “It helps balance out the sweetness and it really intensifies the flavor. This cream cheese is going to taste amazing with that pumpkin we put in the cakes.”

When it was finished mixing he scooped it into a piping bag and snipped off the tip.

“Alright so just pipe a ring around the cake and add this top piece here, then we can start to fill in the gaps.” He showed the camera what he meant, laying down a thick layer of icing before sealing the two halves together. “You know this frosting recipe is my husband’s favorite,” he said as he iced the rest of the cakes. “When I did the red velvet video he stole a whole batch of it and ate it all. I had to go out and get more cream cheese so I could remake it and he threw up all over our bed. He cleaned it all up himself though,” he added with a far off smile. “He’s amazing.”

“Are you talking shit about me on camera again?” Louis asked, entering the kitchen and carefully stepping around the tripods and lighting equipment.

“Never,” Harry swore as Louis rounded the counter and stole some of the cake scraps he’d piled on a cutting board. “I only ever say sweet things about you, on camera or off.”

Louis grabbed another bit of discarded cake, kissing Harry on the cheek in thanks when he squeezed a dollop of icing onto it for him.

“I’m just about to turn these little guys into pumpkins if you’d like to stay and help,” Harry offered.

“Sure, Darling,” Louis grinned, rubbing his hands together. “What do I do?”

“First we need to make some pumpkin colored royal icing,” Harry explained, speeding easily through a batch and showing which colors to add for just the right shade of orange. “Then we’ll use these sculpting tools I showed you all how to make earlier to carve away the extra frosting once we’ve piped it on. You sort of scoop it off. Listen, I can’t explain it, you’ll have to trust me.”

Louis watched everything he did in rapt fascination, a proud smile on his face. When Harry placed once of the already iced cakes in front of him and handed him one of the tools he tried to copy what Harry was doing, dragging the tool up the side and wiping the excess on the cutting board.

“That’s perfect,” Harry told him, a proud grin of his own on his face. “See?” he said to the camera. “Anyone can do it. This is a great treat to let your kids help with.”

“Hey!” Louis squawked, elbowing his side. “I’m great at baking. You’re just worried I’ll steal your job someday.”

“You’re an _amazing_ baker,” Harry simpered, setting down his tool and pinning him against the counter. “Remember when you made cupcakes and you forgot to turn the oven on and you had to call me because it had been an hour and they still hadn’t cooked?” He pressed a kiss to Louis’ jaw. “Or when you filled a cake pan all the way to the top and the whole thing bubbled over and we had to scrape all the burnt cake off the bottom of the oven?” He nipped at the soft skin on Louis’ neck. “Or when - ”

“Shut up,” Louis muttered, tugging him up for a kiss.

“You _are_ amazing,” Harry said earnestly when they pulled apart. “You’re kind and you’re patient and waking up next to you every day is like a dream come true. You just can’t bake for shit.”

Louis leaned forward and bit him hard on the shoulder, making him yelp and jump away, laughing.

“You’re getting better though!!” Harry grinned, shrieking when Louis trapped him in the corner of the kitchen and grabbed at the ticklish spots on his sides. “You’re wonderful! Best baker in the world! Way better than me!”

“_There_ we go,” Louis hummed, finally satisfied, and kissed his cheek. “You’re gonna have a terrible time editing this all later.”

“I know,” Harry sighed, glancing at the cameras that were still rolling.

“Do you have any cream cheese frosting left?”

“I put an extra batch for you in the fridge.”

“Happy days!” Louis grabbed the bowl of icing and the last of the cake scraps and scampered off to their room.

“Try to aim for the wastebasket this time!” Harry called after him, tugging his apron back into place and hoping he’d be able to salvage a half decent video by the end of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you would like to make a tiny baby pumpkin cake this is literally just [this video](https://youtu.be/Xko6V36TMtk) because I love this man and his tiny pumpkin babies and I desperately want to make some


	12. "It's not always like this."

It was stupid of Louis to think he could go on a date when the moon was so full. He had a hard enough time controlling his emotions around Harry when the moon wasn’t putting him on edge. He should have just canceled it but it had been nearly two weeks since they’d had their first and only date and he didn’t know when their schedules would line up right again. Harry had invited him over for dinner and he sounded so hopeful on the phone that Louis said yes even with the full moon drawn on his calendar looming ominously closer.

Louis offered Harry a bouquet of lupine flowers when he arrived, following him into the kitchen as Harry searched for a vase. Louis clenched his hands into fists when he felt his nails lengthening.

“These are beautiful,” Harry said, arranging the flowers just right on the counter. “You’re so sweet to bring them.”

He swooped in and pressed a warm kiss to Louis’ cheek as he passed. When Harry turned his back to finish plating their food Louis quickly shook out his hands until the hair on his fingers retreated back into the skin.

“Do you mind if we eat on the couch?” Harry asked, offering a plate to Louis.

“Of course not,” Louis told him, taking the plate. “This looks amazing.”

They settled in on the couch, knees pressed together, and ate while Harry scrolled through Netflix for something to watch. Louis chewed anxiously at his cheek when the opening titles for _Teen Wolf_ began to play.

“Wine?” Harry asked, pouring himself a glass from the bottle he’d left on the coffee table.

“Please,” Louis said, sitting up and taking a sip when Harry handed it to him. When Harry settled back closer than before Louis took a bigger gulp, his heart racing.

They talked while they ate, barely paying attention to the movie on the screen as the wine bottle slowly emptied. Harry took their plates to the kitchen when they’d finished and when he returned he settled nearly in Louis’ lap, making Louis’ breath hitch.

“You can kiss me, you know,” Harry whispered, his wine-sweet breath fanning over Louis’ lips.

“Can I?”

Harry nodded, fisting the front of Louis’ t-shirt in his hand. Louis slid his arm around Harry’s back to bring him flush against his chest and pressed their mouths together. The kiss quickly turned heady and desperate, Harry nipping at his lips and soothing the sting with his tongue. Louis wound his fingers through Harry’s hair and tugged lightly, moving to suck at his neck when he gasped. Louis glanced up with half lidded eyes and saw the moon glowing through Harry’s open window, nearly a perfect circle in the night sky. He realized with a shock that his hands had fully transformed, sharp claws emerging from a mass of dark mangled fur. He jolted back, the hand that had been at Harry’s back catching on his side with the motion as his claws tore through Harry’s shirt and grazed his skin.

“Fuck!” Louis swore, knocking over the coffee table in his haste to move away. Harry watched with wide eyes as his legs caught on the table and he tumbled onto the floor.

“Louis!” Harry cried, standing up.

Louis knew even without a mirror that his face had twisted up in a half-shift and he hid his face with his hand.

“Louis,” Harry said, more softly. He stepped around the table and stopped him when Louis tried to push himself further away on the floor. “Are you alright?”

“Sorry,” Louis said, his eyes darting around as if looking for an escape. “Sorry. Sorry, I’ll just - ”

“Are you alright?” Harry asked more firmly, kneeling down and grasping Louis’ wrist.

“I’m fine,” Louis bit out after a moment. “I’m sorry. I can go.”

“Come here,” Harry instructed, pulling him to his feet and bringing him back to the couch, turning off the movie. Louis let himself be guided along, flinching when Harry sat beside him and took his hand in his own. He pulled the big paw onto his lap and ran his fingers softly over the back of Louis’ hand. “Does this happen a lot?”

“Which part?” Louis asked weakly.

Harry shrugged.

“I, er, I’m a werewolf,” Louis said. Harry just hummed to confirm that he’d heard him, still petting Louis’ hand. “It’s not always like this,” Louis rushed to tell him. “It’s just that it’s so close to the full moon and I should have stayed home but I was stupid and I wanted to see you and - ”

“It’s alright,” Harry said, squeezing Louis’ hand with both of his own.

“It’s not,” Louis said sadly. “I hurt you.”

He reached out his free hand and caressed the air beside the rip in Harry’s shirt which was stained with a few beads of blood.

“I’m fine,” Harry brushed him off. “My cat’s given me way deeper scratches. It’ll heal in a day or two.”

“How can you be so calm about this?” Louis frowned. “I’m a werewolf. You should at least be a little bit frightened. What if I ate you?”

“You’re _Louis_,” Harry countered. “I know you won’t eat me. But I wouldn’t mind if you did.”

He winked and squeezed Louis’ hand again but Louis’ frown didn’t let up. Harry sighed and leaned closer, lifting his hands to Louis’ face.

“You’re sweet,” he said, brushing his fingers over Louis’ jaw. “And you’re gentle.” He ran his fingertips across Louis’ cheekbones and he felt his face relaxing. Louis closed his eyes and Harry leaned up to press a soft kiss to each eyelid. When he leaned back Louis’ face had returned to its normal shape, only the usual scruff left on his chin.

“There,” Harry smiled. He took both of Louis’ hands in his own and pressed a kiss to each knuckle, his hands shrinking back down to normal size. “A little hair’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“You really don’t mind?” Louis asked, still skeptical.

“Not a bit,” Harry grinned. “I like knowing what an affect I have on you.”

Louis probably would have rambled forever about the affects of the moon and hormones and werewolf biology if Harry hadn’t silenced him with a kiss.


	13. "What if I don't see it?"

Harry was supposed to be taking notes on his half of the handout so he could explain what he’d read to his seatmate but his mind kept drifting. His teacher had decided to put their unit on plant genetics aside for the day and read about vampire bats for Halloween. Harry normally would have liked looking at the pictures of their scrunched up little faces and reading about the myths that surrounded them but he couldn’t seem to concentrate. He’d been rereading the same sentence for a while when the eraser end of a pencil was tapped against his elbow.

“What’s up?” Louis asked quietly. “You seem down.”

Harry shrugged.

Louis had been his seatmate all unit and usually it was easy for him to make Harry laugh even during the most boring assignments. Harry wasn’t in a very laughing mood though.

“Are you doing anything for Halloween tonight?”

“No,” Harry shook his head, doodling sad stormy clouds in the corner of his paper.

“Really?” Louis asked. He seemed surprised. “I thought you’d be going to Josh Hannold’s party. Aren’t you two dating?”

“We’re not,” Harry frowned.

“Oh.”

Harry had liked Josh all year, had been to every orchestra recital to watch him play his stand up bass and had shared his dessert with him every time Josh sat at his table during lunch. He had thought Josh might like him back and when Josh started talking about his annual Halloween party Harry had let himself hope that Josh might invite him to be his date. But Josh never invited him at all.

“So you’re not doing anything?”

Harry kept doodling, making his clouds dark and menacing.

“You could hang out with me, you know, if you’d like.”

Harry looked at him with narrowed eyes.

“Aren’t _you_ going to his party?”

Josh always invited the other orchestra kids and Louis played piano with them. Even if he didn’t Louis probably would have been invited anyway. He was one of those people that everybody liked, easily flitting between the footy players and the drama kids and everyone else. Harry doubted there was a single party he hadn’t been invited to.

“Nah,” Louis smiled easily. “I went last year and it sucked. I’d rather hang out with you if you’re up for it.”

Harry pursed his lips.

“What exactly do you have in mind?”

Louis beamed.

“I’m gonna find a ghost.”

And thus Harry found himself beside Louis Tomlinson, sneaking into an old abandoned house with big metal flashlights rather than curled up at home with a bucket of Halloween candy to drown his sorrows in.

“We’re gonna get arrested,” Harry grumbled, following Louis as he searched for an open window.

“We’re gonna see a _ghost_,” Louis corrected, grinning when a window frame came loose and he was able to push it open. Harry scoffed. “What? Does the great Harry Styles not believe in ghosts?”

“I don’t _not_ believe in them,” Harry frowned. “I just don’t think they’re something you can go looking for.”

Louis laced his fingers together and boosted Harry up over the window sill, hefting himself up after him.

“Well if there’s a good place to look, this is it,” Louis said, looking around the dingy decay inside the house.

“How long has this place been here?” Harry asked, stepping carefully over the creaky floorboards to examine the half-rotted grandfather clock against the wall. “It’s like it’s held together by cobwebs alone.”

“I think it was already abandoned when my mum was a kid,” Louis told him, shining his flashlight over the graffitied walls and checking all the corners. “She told me she saw a ghost in the window once when she was walking home from school.”

“Why haven’t they torn it down?” Harry asked, following Louis to explore the next room.

“I don’t know,” Louis shrugged. “I think they were hoping somebody would buy the property and do it themselves but nobody did and they just forgot about it.”

They checked every room in the house but didn’t see any ghosts. Harry thought Louis would lead him back to the open window and admit defeat but instead he sat down against the wall in the sitting room and pulled a bag of Jelly Babies out of his jacket pocket.

“You want some?”

Harry sat down beside him and let Louis pour some of the candies into his hand.

“Ghosts are shy sometimes, you know,” Louis explained. “You’ve got to let them warm up to you a bit before they reveal themselves.”

“And what if we don’t see one?” Harry asked. “Are you gonna sit here all night?”

“We’ll see one,” Louis said confidently.

Harry just shrugged and they sat in silence for a while, steadily eating through the bag of candy while they waited for a ghost to appear.

“So did you and Josh break up?” Louis asked suddenly, wincing once he’d said it. “Shit. You don’t have to answer that, sorry. It’s none of my business.”

“We were never together,” Harry said, pinching one of the Jelly Babies between his fingers and rolling it around.

“Oh,” Louis said. “Sorry I just… I always saw you two together and you were always at our recitals so I just assumed I guess.”

“So did I,” Harry said quietly.

“Oh,” Louis said again. “So you…?”

Harry nodded. He squished the candy until it was flat between his fingers.

“I thought he liked me but he didn’t even invite me tonight.”

“Fuck him,” Louis frowned. Harry looked up with wide eyes. “Seriously, fuck him. He’s an asshole, you don’t wanna be with him.”

A startled sort of laugh bubbled up from Harry’s chest.

“He’s shit at bass, you know,” Louis told him conspiratorially. “He’s just the only one willing to lug one around. And he’s always saying he’s gonna start a rock back, always telling me and the other guys we should go over to his place and ‘jam’ even though nothing ever happens. He’s been saying it for years. And he’s never once asked Molly Rosko even though she’s better at guitar than any of us. Trust me, he’s an asshole.”

Harry had started to laugh for real, a big painful smile stretching across his face.

“And can you imagine if you _married_ him?” Louis asked, grinning. “His last name is _Hannold_. You’d be _Harold Hannold_. Really, Harry, think of all the misery you’re avoiding right now.”

Soon they were both shrieking with laughter, gasping for breath as they slumped together.

“You’re way too good for him,” Louis said when their laughter had subsided and their shoulders were still pressed together. “Way, _way_ too good for him.”

“Thanks,” Harry whispered, suddenly realizing how close their faces had gotten.

“Any time,” Louis said, just as softly. He reached up to brush away the curls that had fallen over Harry’s face, tucking them gently behind his ear. Harry felt his breath hitch at the soft touch and found himself leaning in, Louis mirroring the movement. He felt the Louis’ nose brush against his before pressing into his cheek, their lips ghosting over each other. 

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_

They heard loud heavy footsteps pounding down on the floor above them and they sprang apart.

They looked at each other with wide eyes and scrambled to their feet, their hearts racing as they sprinted to the window and flung themselves clumsily onto the grass outside. Louis grabbed Harry’s hand and pulled him to his feet, the two of them running down the street until their lungs gave out, their fingers laced together all the way.


	14. "I never knew it could be this way."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a timestamp for [Fool For You](http://https://archiveofourown.org/works/17951930/chapters/42396335)

The moon hung big and yellow in the sky as flames danced up to greet it. The huge bonfire at the center of town was radiating enough heat to stain Harry’s cheeks a bright festive pink but he still shivered when he felt Louis’ fingers brush against his neck.

“Here you are, My Love.” Louis pressed a kiss to his flushed cheek and set a mug of mulled wine in his hand. “Nearly ready to rejoin the festivities?”

“Another moment, perhaps,” Harry smiled, taking a long sip of the steaming wine, the spices dancing over his tongue. They’d danced together for hours, only stopping when Harry got a stitch in his side and collapsed into Louis’ arms. All around them people were linking arms, dancing around the fire or feasting on the bounties of the harvest. “Why don’t you go on, and I’ll watch?”

“If you’re sure,” Louis grinned, pecking a quick kiss to his lips before scampering off to join the acrobats performing for the onlookers. He’d dusted off his bell-spangled cap for the occasion and it glinted in the firelight, making it easy for Harry to track him across the square. The others greeted him with boisterous shouts of “Tommo!,” patting him on the back and bringing him seamlessly into their routine. Harry smiled into his mug, glad to see Louis back in his element.

“Happy Samhain, Your Highness,” came a voice to his left. When he turned he found Cordelia, a girl he’d met long ago at another festival in the village. She was bent in a sardonic sort of curtsy, a wry smile on her face. “They’re beginning the apple bobbing if you’d like to grace us all with your presence.”

Harry glanced back to where Louis was balanced on somebody’s shoulders, teetering dangerously back and forth.

“Come on,” she goaded. “Your boy will be fine without you for a moment. Rosaline said that if I beat you she might start considering my offers of courtship.”

Harry let her pull him away to a line of young men and women kneeling around buckets and barrels. Each one was filled with water and floating golden apples. Cordelia drug him to an unoccupied trough and knelt down across from him, grinning widely.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“I guess,” Harry shrugged, untying his cloak and letting it fall to the ground in a pile of red velvet. He saw Cordelia wink at a buxom blonde girl in the crowd. “Good luck.”

The woman running the game blew her whistle and they all plunged their faces into the chilly water, their mouths searching for apples. Harry gasped for air, blinking water out of his eyes whenever he came above the surface, looking for fruit in the choppy water. Finally he felt something solid against his lips and he opened his mouth wide, his front teeth sinking into the flesh of an apple. He pulled his head back out of the water and the crowd around them cheered.

“Darling, you won!”

A hand gently pulled the apple from his mouth and then Louis’ lips were on his, uncaring of the icy water dripping down his face. When they parted Louis reached up to brush the wet sopping curls from over his eyes, dabbing at his cheeks with his sleeve.

“You did wonderful,” Louis grinned, tightening the bow of the blue ribbon that had come loose around Harry’s neck. “You must be freezing though. Let’s get you back to the fire.”

He pulled Harry to his feet and wrapped the velvet cloak back around his shoulders. Harry preened under all the attention like a house cat basking in the sun. As they made their way back to the bonfire people stopped them to congratulate Harry on winning the game, always throwing a wink Louis’ way that made Harry blush. It was said that the first person to retrieve an apple in the game would be the next person in the village to marry.

“I was hoping Cordelia would win,” Harry told Louis later when they were huddled together, Harry’s cloak wrapped around them both like a blanket. “She’d been trying to court Rosaline for months but she’s had no luck.”

“I think she’s doing just fine now,” Louis laughed, pointing to where the two girls were swaying in a tight embrace. Harry smiled as he looked around at the other couples, the children all either retired for the night or slumped over on their parents’ laps. All around them people old and young walked together with hands intertwined, dancing in the moonlight and laying together under the stars.

“I never knew it could be this way,” Harry whispered against Louis’ jaw, pressing his cold nose against his cheek. “Not until you.”

Louis tightened his arms around him and pressed a warm kiss to his temple. Later they’d walk home hand in hand to light candles and leave out offerings for wayward spirits. They’d trudge outside to check on all the animals and Harry would give Geraldine the pumpkin seeds he’d saved just for her. They’d climb into bed and huddle together, rubbing their feet against each other like crickets to warm up beneath the piles of blankets. They’d fall asleep with their foreheads pressed together, eyelashes fluttering against each other as they dreamed. But for now they were warm by the fire, their heartbeats slow and syrupy and the moon big and golden over their heads.


	15. "I can't come back."

The first time Louis saw her she thought she was a seal or a dolphin that had swam too close to the shore. She’d watched a beached whale be rescued before, had seen the wildlife rescuers hauling big buckets of water around and pulling it back to sea. When she saw a mass of fins in the sand on her evening walk she’d rushed towards it, hoping whatever it was was still alive. Louis had nearly fallen over when she saw the long hair and the pale skin, the open mouth gasping desperately for air.

Louis had stepped towards the girl cautiously, noting the sharp fingernails on her hands where they clawed at the sand and the pointed teeth in her mouth. But the girl’s big green eyes had been filled with fear and her breaths sounded shallow and weak, the jagged gills along her ribs trembling as they searched for water.

“Let me help you,” Louis said, hoping the girl understood. When the girl nodded weakly Louis took hold of her forearms and pulled her towards the water, her muscles screaming from the strain. The girl was heavy with her long tail and the sand was unforgiving. Louis kept pulling until the waves were lapping at her feet and the girl could help with a few exhausted strokes of her tail. Louis drug her until she was fully submerged, holding the girl while she gulped down seawater, her gills fluttering happily as they filtered it back out. The girl relaxed, closing her eyes as her body went limp. Louis watched her from just above the surface, keeping her arms around her even though she knew the girl could sink to the bottom of the ocean and be just fine.

Seeming to have had her fill, the girl resurfaced after a few long minutes. Louis relaxed her arms, only the tips of her fingers skimming the girl’s forearms as she raised just her eyes out of the water.

“Are you alright now?” Louis asked, not really expecting an answer.

The girl’s long dark curls were like ink in the water around her, fanning out further when she nodded her head. Before Louis could react the girl jolted forward, pressing her cold lips against Louis’ for one heart stopping moment before ducking back beneath the waves, her hair trailing behind her as she disappeared into the darkness.

The next morning Louis was sure it had all been a dream, even with her aching muscles and the sand buried in her hair. Even with her lips tingling every time she looked out at the ocean. Still she went back, lingering in one particular spot on her evening walks for longer than she’d care to admit. It wasn’t until nearly three weeks later that she saw a pair of eyes peeking up over the waves, watching her. The eyes widened when Louis walked resolutely towards them, uncaring of her clothes which were instantly soaked.

“You’re back,” Louis said when she was just a few paces from the girl, only the tips of her toes still touching sand beneath waves.

The girl nodded. Then she lifted her lips out of the water.

“I wanted to thank you,” she said, her voice like a lake. Deep and clean and clear.

“I wasn’t sure that you could talk,” Louis told her. “I wasn’t sure you understood me.”

“I’m not supposed to talk to you,” the girl said. “I’ll get in trouble if anybody finds out.”

“I won’t tell,” Louis said, realizing as she said it that it was true. She hadn’t told anybody about the girl and she didn’t intend to.

“Really?” the girl asked.

“Of course,” Louis promised. She placed her hand over her heart and the girl looked at it for a moment before copying the pose. “Do mermaids have names?”

“My name is Harry,” the girl said.

“I’m Louis.”

Harry smiled, her sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight.

“Thank you for saving me, Louis.”

“The pleasure was all mine,” Louis laughed, tilting her head. “I’d say the kiss you gave me was more than thanks enough.”

Harry’s pale, blue toned skin flushed a healthy pink and she ducked back down under the water, leaving just her eyes which were still scrunched up in a smile. A long stream of bubbles floated up from her mouth and Louis giggled delightedly.

“It was nice,” Louis said, letting herself float in the water. “A bit short, if anything. You could try again sometime, if you’d like.”

Harry’s face fell. When she brought her mouth back above the water she looked glum.

“I can’t,” she said sadly. “I can’t come back. I’m not allowed to go near the shore.”

“You came back tonight,” Louis pointed out.

“Just to thank you,” Harry frowned.

“You could thank me again,” Louis said, arching her brow. “I saved your life, you know. I’m not sure one thank you would be enough.”

“Maybe…” Harry said, biting her lip shyly as the current carried her closer to Louis.

“I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to visit again,” Louis told her, smiling when she felt one of Harry’s silky fins brush against her foot. “Just if you want to.”

“I do,” Harry nodded earnestly.

“Then I think you’d better,” Louis said, reaching out to touch one of the translucent fins floating near her in the water.

“Thank you, Louis,” Harry said before crashing into her once more, kissing her just long enough for Louis to feel it before diving down into the water again. Louis was still stuck open mouthed when Harry popped up between the waves nearly too far away to see in the dark and called out “I’ll be back.”


	16. "That's what I'm talking about!"

“Babe, could you come out here for a second?”

Louis had been working for weeks decorating their front lawn for Halloween, stringing up lights and hanging skeletons in the trees and even painting his own gravestones for his makeshift cemetery. He’d never been all that into decorating but one year he’d picked up a pack of fake cobwebs on a whim and somehow become fixated on making their whole house look perfect. Harry was always willing to help but more often than not Louis shooed him inside so he could take his time adjusting every detail until it was just right. He couldn’t get the large animated figure he’d bought to move though, even though he’d switched the batteries five times and whacked it with the heel of his palm until it was smarting.

“Sure,” Harry called back, wrapping himself in his oatmeal cardigan as he stepped outside. “What’s - ?”

The big plastic witch jolted to life, her eyes glowing red as a loud cackling burst from the speaker in her chest.

“Jesus!” Harry flinched, clutching his chest and nearly falling as his loafers slipped on the grass.

“_That’s_ what I’m talking about!” Louis grinned. “Sorry Babe, false alarm. She’s working now.”

“She nearly gave me a heart attack,” Harry pouted, eyeing the witch wearily.

“Just imagine what the kids will think of her,” Louis said, wrapping his arm around Harry’s waist. “That Mason kid down the street keeps walking by on his way home from school and saying my decorations aren’t even scary. I bet I can make him piss himself on the big night.”

“Isn’t Mason, like, nine?” Harry asked.

“Ha, yeah,” Louis chuckled, looking at the witch and imagining all the terror she could inflict.

“It’s nice you’ve got a hobby.”

Louis kissed his cheek with a smack.

“Come look at the graves I made!”

They crossed the yard to the plot Louis had sectioned off with a little foot-high fence, filled with homemade graves and loose bones.

“They look amazing!” Harry told him truthfully. He’d even spackled the wooden boards to make them look more like stone before he painted them, marking each one with the name of a famous movie monster or murderer. “Where did you learn to do all this stuff?”

“I found a bunch of old Martha Stewart magazines,” Louis shrugged. “She’s got a lot of good tips.”

Harry was leaning forward to read all of the inscriptions when a skeleton leapt up from behind one of the graves with a screech that Harry easily matched. Louis caught him when he fell back, holding him up as he steadied his breathing.

“I forgot about that one,” Louis winced. “Sorry.”

“My hair is going to gray prematurely and it’s going to be all your fault,” Harry scowled.

“Sorry, Darling,” Louis said again, squeezing his hips. “I promise there’s nothing else that jumps out. Do you want to help me carve a few more pumpkins? I think the ones I’ve got are looking a bit lonely.”

“Can I make mine cute?”

Louis scrunched his face in distaste, looking around at his own pumpkins which were all carved with sharp teeth and mean eyes.

“Sure,” he agreed. “You can carve yours however you’d like.”

When Harry stepped back towards the pumpkins on the porch a ghost came flying at him on the clothesline Louis had strung up, swooping low and howling as it came towards him. Harry finally did fall down, his whole body clenched up in fear.

“Sorry!” Louis cringed as he helped him off the ground. “I swear I turned that one off.”

“You’re going to kill me with these things,” Harry swore, “and when I die I’m going to haunt your ass every single day except for October just to spite you.”

“That sounds fair,” Louis admitted, wondering if it was a good time to mention the motion activated bat he’d strung up above their bed that flapped its wings and squeaked when activated.


	17. "Listen. No, really listen."

“Shhh,” Louis whispered as he guided Harry up onto the wall, careful of the slippery moss growing over the stones. From his perch at the top Harry helped to pull Louis up beside him, pausing for a moment to kiss him before they swung their heavy boots to the other side. “Careful,” Louis warned him before they both jumped down to the ground, landing softly in the grass.

Harry reached out his lace covered hand and linked his fingers with Louis’, grinning as he looked around them.

The cemetery was lit only by the moon as it stretched out before them. The shaggy grass waved lightly in the breeze like the overgrown hair of a beast, shimmering in the darkness. Louis squeezed his hand and ran into the thick of it, Harry stumbling along behind him and laughing as his boots twisted in the grass. There was a heavy fog laying over the graveyard, making them shiver as they ran and slicking the ground beneath them. They wove through the crumbling gravestones with no destination, growing dizzy as they circled through the endless grounds.

Suddenly Louis dropped his hand, ducking behind a large marble slab. Harry slowed his gait, narrowing his eyes as he peaked around it and found nothing behind the headstone. He followed what he thought was Louis’ path, circling around the slab and looking out into the darkness. He stepped lightly down the line of stones, searching for movement. Just as he passed another standing monument Louis lept at him, bowling them both to the ground. Harry yelped, twisting beneath him as Louis searched out the soft spots under his ribs with his fingers.

“_They’re coming to get you, Barbara!_” he said in a ghoulish voice, making Harry giggle as he squirmed. “_They’re coming for you, Barbara! They’re coming for you!_”

Finally Harry flipped them both over and pinned Louis down to stop his attack. They both panted, grinning at each other in the moonlight.

“You’re an idiot,” Harry told him fondly. “You’re gonna get us caught.”

“I was just trying to save you,” Louis said. “I saw a zombie, I had to get you on the ground so he wouldn’t see you.”

“My hero,” Harry simpered, releasing Louis’ wrists and sitting back.

“You should thank me,” Louis grinned, letting his hands rest at Harry’s hips. “I saved your life.”

“Of course,” Harry nodded. He let Louis roll them again, laying back in the dew-wet grass and sighing as Louis kissed him.

“You always look beautiful in the moonlight,” Louis told him between kisses. He ran his black-polished fingers through Harry’s hair, the long curls fanned out around him like the branches of a willow tree. Steadily the press of Louis’ black lipstick against Harry’s crimson turned both their lips a dark maroon color.

“Louis!” Harry gasped when Louis rutted against him. He slid his gloved hands under Louis’ long black coat and pulled at his clothing desperately. Louis hurried to pull off the coat, flinging it to the side before reaching for the buckles of Harry’s corset. While he worked them loose Harry made quick work of the laces on Louis’ shirt, pulling it aside and smearing dark red lipstick over his collar bones.

Finally Louis got the corset undone, tossing it aside before focusing on the ruffled lace cravat at his neck. Harry was still sucking bruises across his neck as Louis felt around for the clasp of the collar.

“Is there, like, a button?” he asked, trying to get his fingers under the mounds of ruffles.

“What?” Harry asked, his eyes glassy.

“On your neck. The cravat.”

“Oh,” Harry said. He quickly undid the hook and eye closure and brought his mouth back to Louis’ chest to continue the hickey he’d been working on. It was blooming a bright ruby red by the time Louis had fumbled his way through the row of tiny pearl buttons on the front of his shirt and finally exposed Harry’s chest.

“Come up here, you vampire,” he smiled, pulling Harry up to connect their lips once more.

“You’re so hot,” Harry said breathlessly, reaching for the bat shaped buckle on Louis’ belt.

“Wait,” Louis said, grabbing Harry’s wrist.

Harry frowned, pulling back.

“Did you hear something?” Louis asked, looking around.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Harry said, reaching for Louis’ belt again.

“I thought I heard somebody…”

“It was probably just another zombie,” Harry told him, undoing his belt and starting in on the button closure. Louis tried to relax but there was a snap out in the darkness as if somebody had stepped on a twig.

“Listen,” he said, pulling Harry’s hands away and tilting his head towards the noise.

“I’m not falling for - ”

“No, really,” Louis whispered, putting his finger over Harry’s lips. “Listen.”

Harry rolled his eyes but froze when he heard footsteps. He grabbed Louis’ arm with a white-knuckled hand. Together they stood up and gasped when they saw a figure approaching slowly through the mist, lumbering with leaden steps between the graves.

“Oh, shit!”

Together they made a mad dash back to the cemetery wall, scrambling up the stones and throwing themselves onto the other side. They ignored the stitches in their sides and their lungs screaming for air as they sprinted down the street, their hearts pounding in their chests.

Back at the graveyard the old groundskeeper just sighed, thinking wistfully of retirement. In the morning he would return to find black ruffley clothing strewn around the grass with a small book of poetry by Edgar Allan Poe and a tube of black lipstick. He would put it in the lost and found box with the other cloaks and cravats and books of gothic literature but they would never be claimed.

Harry would whine for weeks about his lost neckpiece and Louis would silently think of it as a blessing in disguise.


	18. "There's just something about him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A timestamp for [Treat Mothman With Kindness](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16402718)

“He should be here any second now,” Louis said, anxiously checking his watch for the hundredth time. “Are all the streamers up? Liam, did you get the CD player working?”

“I’ve got it,” Liam assured him, squeezing his shoulder. “I think I’ve got Shania Twain’s entire discography ready to go.”

“You need to calm down, Mate,” Zayn told him, lightly punching his arm. “Everything’s perfect.”

“Yeah!” Niall called from where he was tying the last balloon. “He’s gonna love it.”

“This is so stupid,” Louis groaned, looking around at all the people who had come out for the event. “A year ago these people were pointing torches and pitchforks at him. Why would he want to be proposed to in front of them? I should have just found a lighthouse to take him to.”

“Everybody here loves Harry,” Liam reasoned. “The fact that they hated him so much at first just attests to how wonderful he is. I don’t think there’s a person on earth immune to his charm. We’re all here to support you two, I think this is a great idea.”

Louis nodded, trying to steady his breathing.

“It’ll be fine,” Zayn said. “He’ll love anything you do. There’s no reason to be so stressed.”

“There’s just something about him,” Louis said, the dreamy look he always got when talking about Harry returning to his face. “He’s so different from anyone I’ve ever met. It needs to be special, because _he’s_ special.”

“I mean, he’s not human,” Zayn said just before Niall slapped his chest.

“Oh no, Mrs. Parsnip got out of her hat again,” Louis cried, running towards the cat who was chewing happily on her wicker bonnet beside all the other cats in fancy dress. Liam and Zayn exchanged a look.

Suddenly a murmur spread through the party, all the separate conversations hushing as people turned towards the break in the trees.

“Louis!” Niall hissed, making him drop the cat bonnet. He jolted up to stand ramrod straight, fiddling nervously with his fingers as he watched the figure approaching through the trees.

Harry was dressed in a rose printed romper with sunflower printed tights underneath, a faded pink tote bag hanging heavy on his shoulder. He was following the trail of shiny polished rocks just as Louis thought he would, collecting them all in his bag and marveling at each one. There was a fluffy white cat draped happily around his neck, her dusty gray paws resting on his chest.

“Oh!” Harry said when he saw the party gathered in the woods. “What’s going on?”

He stepped closer when Liam, Niall and Zayn beckoned him in. He looked in wonder at his old shed, strung up with lights and streamers and balloons. At least half the town was smiling at him, a buffet of food from the diner laid out off to the side. There were school children running around wearing the big moth wings that Louis sold in the gift shop of his museum, all of them leaving trails of craft glitter in their wake.

Harry found Louis easily in the crowd, people parting around him to create a path straight towards him. Harry’s brows furrowed curiously, scratching behind Dusty’s ears as he came to Louis’ side.

“What’s going on?” he asked, seeing the expectant way everyone was looking at him. “Is somebody having a party? I found all of these beautiful rocks and then - ”

“Harry,” Louis said softly, taking his hand in his own. “You know that I love you, right? And I love being with you?”

Harry nodded, frowning in confusion.

“You make me happy. And I hope I make you happy - ”

“You do,” Harry told him.

“Good,” Louis smiled. “When we first met you told me you were lonely, and I think I was lonely too. I didn’t really realize it until I met you because I didn’t know what I was missing until I met you. I didn’t know there were people like you. I couldn’t imagine anyone so kind and lovely and magical existing in real life. But I met you, and I’m not lonely anymore and I hope you’re not lonely because I never want us to be lonely.”

“Never,” Harry shook his head, his eyes big and glassy, reflecting all the christmas lights Louis had spent hours hanging.

“That first night, the first time we spoke, you asked me if I’d stay forever,” Louis said, squeezing his fingers. “I said I wouldn’t but I was wrong. I want to spend forever with you.”

He bent down on one knee and Harry gasped, tears finally falling from his eyes.

“I know how much you like shiny things so I hope this will suffice,” Louis grinned, pulling a sparkling diamond ring from his pocket and offering it up along with his heart. “Will you marry me, Harry?”

“Of course,” Harry smiled, nodding madly. Louis easily slid the ring over Harry’s shimmering finger, bundling him up in his arms as the crowd cheered around them. Harry peppered wet kisses across his face, whispering “Always, always.”

Dusty hopped down from her perch on Harry’s shoulders, jostled around too much by their embrace, and joined the other cats.

Once all of the excitement had died down a bit Liam loaded _Come On Over_ into the boombox and Harry and Louis swayed together, Harry watching his ring sparkle with his head on Louis’ shoulder. They both blushed each time somebody came to congratulate them; Mr. Cordon who had named a special at the diner after Harry, Mrs. Martin who Harry babysat for twice a month and Perrie and Jade who had announced their own engagement that summer.

“I’ve always wanted to attend one of Harry’s weddings,” Niall said when he and Zayn came to join them. “Louis speaks very highly of your skills as a wedding planner.”

Harry beamed, his wings flapping happily.

“There’s going to be so much to plan,” Harry said, his mind reeling with the possibilities. “I’ve never been to a real wedding before. I’m not sure where to start.”

“Whatever you decide on will be beautiful,” Louis assured him. “And you won’t have to do it alone. We’ll be planning it together this time.”

“We’re all here to help too,” Zayn told them and Harry smiled gratefully. Despite his trepidation at first, Zayn had grown to love Harry along with everyone else.

“And we’ll be here to help with any little moth babies that may come your way!” Niall grinned.

“I told you,” Louis groaned. “Harry can’t get pregnant. I mean, I don’t think so…”

He looked to Harry who only shrugged.

“I think you’d know by now, Mate,” Zayn said.

“Harry!” Liam called from the dessert table which was piled high with cakes and pastries. “Are you ready to start the cake fight?”

Harry’s face lit up and he nodded excitedly.

“You organized a cake fight for me?” he asked Louis, lifting off the ground from the force of his wings’ fluttering.

“Of course I did,” Louis smiled, squeezing his hand. “I’d do anything for you.”

Harry threw his arms around Louis, lifting them both into the air in a passionate kiss.


	19. "Secrets? I love secrets."

Louis bit his lip when he spotted Harry shuffling down the hall, easily a head taller than even the teachers. 

“He’s so cute,” he groaned, leaning back against his locker.

“Who, Harry?” Liam asked, seeing where Louis’ gaze was pointed.

“Yeah,” Louis sighed, hugging his books against his chest. “Don’t you think so?”

“I guess,” Liam frowned. “Isn’t he kind of weird looking?”

Louis gave him an incredulous look.

“He’s like the hottest guy in school,” he told him. “He’s so tall and strong and his hair always looks so soft.”

“Yeah but he’s, like,” Liam winced, “_green_.”

“Sometimes people have different skin tones than yours, Liam,” Louis scowled. “That does not make them weird looking. I happen to think that Harry’s skin is beautiful.”

He went back to watching Harry lumber through the crowd of students, the gray suit jacket he always wore tight on his broad shoulders. When he got closer he looked at Louis and smiled, making Louis feel a bit breathless.

“Hey, Louis,” he said, ducking his head shyly.

“Hey, Harry,” Louis grinned, looking up at him through his eyelashes.

“I was wondering, um, if you’d like to come to the old abandoned windmill with me after school today?”

“I’d love to,” Louis beamed.

“Cool,” Harry said, hiding his smile against his shoulder. “I can meet you here after sixth period?”

“Perfect,” Louis nodded. He watched Harry walk away in a happy daze, forgetting Liam was still there until a locker closed beside him.

“Were those _bolts_ in his neck?”

The school day passed in a blur of excited jitters, Louis doodling H+L in hearts all over his notebooks. He had to stop himself from running to him when he saw Harry standing at his locker.

“Are you ready to go?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, let me just grab my backpack.”

“I can carry it.” Harry easily swung the bag over his shoulder and Louis thought he might swoon.

They made easy conversation as they walked to the old abandoned windmill, Louis having to tip his head back to look at Harry with his seven foot stature. He might have had to run to keep up with his long legs but Harry walked very slowly, shuffling along with his heavy square boots. Louis thought that surely they must be made for each other.

It was nearing twilight by the time the reached the windmill, the days much shorter at that time of year, and the chill in the air made Louis want nothing more than to wrap himself up in Harry’s arms. The glow of the setting sun illuminated Harry’s face and made his sallow complexion appear warmer and brighter than usual. Louis couldn’t take his eyes off of him, even if his neck was starting to cramp.

“This is one of my favorite places to go,” Harry told him once they’d settled at the top of the hill.

“Thank you for bringing me,” Louis said, inching closer to him. “It’s really beautiful.”

“Louis,” Harry said, squaring his face as he turned towards him. “There’s something I have to tell you. A secret.”

“Secrets?” Louis smiled. “I love secrets.”

“Yes,” Harry said, nodding resolutely. “I’ve been holding it in for so long, and truthfully I think it’s been rather obvious. I’m not very good at hiding things, but…”

“You can tell me,” Louis assured him, laying his fingers over the back of Harry’s hand, the papery skin cool to the touch.

“Louis, I - ” he began, the metal bolts glinting on his neck. “I’ve had a crush on you for ages.”

“Really?” Louis grinned. “So have I.”

“You mean it?” Harry asked, his eyes full of hope.

“Yeah,” Louis laughed. “I’ve liked you ever since you transferred here.”

“Gosh,” Harry breathed, a relieved smile spreading across his face.

“Harry,” Louis said, taking one of Harry’s monstrous hands in both of his. “Would you like to be my boyfriend?”

“I would love to,” Harry beamed. Louis leaned up as far as he could to try and kiss him, still about a foot away from his chin, but Harry stopped him. “I think there’s something else I should mention first though.”

“Oh?” Louis asked, lowering from his tip-toes.

“Yeah,” Harry said, rubbing his neck. “I’m also Frankenstein’s monster.”

“Oh,” Louis frowned. “Like, for real?”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “My dad, like, made me in a lab or whatever. I dunno. I’m, like, made out of bodies. It’s super lame.”

Louis squinted at him, shifting around to see his face at different angles.

“I, like, I _guess_ I see it?” he said. “Like maybe in the right light.”

“Yeah, like it’s not a big deal,” Harry shrugged. “I know it’s a deal breaker for some people though.”

“I don’t care how many people you’re made out of,” Louis told him. “Your heart’s the only body part that really matters.”

“Aww, _Louis_,” Harry smiled.

He had to bend down quite far to kiss Louis but it was worth it when their lips touched. Louis brought his hands up to thread his fingers through Harry’s hair, mindful of the stitches across his neck, and Harry wrapped his arms around Louis’ back. Or he tried to, but one of his arms wasn’t responding.

“Oops,” he said when he pulled back and saw one of his arms laying limp on the ground. “Sorry, that happens sometimes.”

“No problem,” Louis said, bending down to pick it up.

“God, this is so embarrassing,” Harry groaned.

“At least I get to hold your hand,” Louis grinned, holding up the appendage.

“I think I love you,” Harry said, leaning down again to kiss him. “I should probably go home though, my dad will need to sew that back on for me before it starts to rot.”

“Oh, okay,” Louis nodded. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow right?”

“Yeah,” Harry grinned. “I’ll see you, _Boyfriend._”


	20. "Yes, I admit it, you were right."

“I heard that guy who moved in last week’s a vampire.”

“Of course he’s a vampire, Niall,” Harry rolled his eyes, using his skull-shaped compact to touch up his black lipstick. “Nobody moves in to a haunted old mansion in the middle of October if they’re not a vampire. Everybody knows that.”

“Zayn said that Liam said that someone said they saw him going to the cemetery at night,” Niall continued. “And nobody’s seen him during the day. And some doctor from out of town is always driving up to the mansion with, like, _deliveries_. It’s totally ghoulish.”

“I know,” Harry sighed, snapping his compact closed. “He’s, like, the guy of my dreams.”

“He’s creepy!” Niall frowned. “And you’ve never even seen him!”

“Not yet,” Harry smiled. “Just wait.”

That night Harry scaled the fence surrounding the mansion, having to stop every few seconds to unsnag the many laces and chains and bits of netting on his outfit before finally tumbling down onto the overgrown lawn. A family of bats flew over his head and up to an open window in the rickety tower that stood above the mansion.

“Creepy,” Harry grinned. He stomped up the small hill with purpose, his buckle-covered platform boots crunching on the ground like teeth on bone. When he got to the front door he could hear music pulsing lightly through the wood. He lifted up the heavy knocker shaped like a skeletal hand and brought it down against the door in a string of knocks. When nobody answered and the music kept playing Harry knocked again with no response. When he twisted the doorknob experimentally it turned with a soft click.

Harry opened the door slowly and crept inside. The mansion was dark, lit only with a few candles, and there were cobwebs in every corner. _The Cure_ was playing loudly in a room on the second floor, making the chandelier hanging in the foyer rattle lightly. Harry closed the door behind him and stepped further into the house, mindful of his heavy boots as he softly laid each step.

He could easily imagine the ghosts swirling around him as he walked through the sitting area and down a long hallway, finding faded wallpaper and candelabras covered in waterfalls of dripping wax. It was the perfect home for a vampire and Harry longed to make it his own home.

There was a sheet hanging over some sort of frame on the wall in the middle of the hallway and the curiosity was killing Harry. Gingerly he lifted one side of the sheet and found a large ornate mirror, the glass speckled with age. He grinned at himself before lowering the sheet again. When he ducked into a powder room he found another mirror covered with cloth.

He was in a large dusty library, looking through the collections of books about dungeons and moats when suddenly goosebumps spread across the back of his neck.

“What are you doing in my house?”

Harry dropped the book in his hand and spun around with a gasp.

Standing before him with his arms crossed was the guy of his dreams. Well, sort of. Harry had imagined him with more eyeliner and maybe a cool leather jacket or a cape, but his blue eyes flashed in the flickering candlelight and his pale arms were flexed across his black _Bauhaus_ t-shirt and Harry nearly swooned.

“Nobody answered when I knocked,” he grinned.

The boy frowned.

“So you just walked in?”

He had an accent and Harry could feel it turning his legs to goo.

“I heard you’re a vampire,” he said in explanation.

“I’m not,” the boy said. “That’s a rumor.”

“You’re totally a vampire,” Harry argued. “I know you’re a vampire.”

“I’m not a vampire,” the boy countered. “I’m an anemic agoraphobe with an allergy to sunlight.”

The lie slid easily from his lips as if he’d practiced it.

“You’re a vampire,” Harry said again. “You cover your mirrors. Vampires do that.”

“Self esteem issues,” the boy shrugged.

“You live alone in a giant mansion and you’re, like, my age.”

“Emancipation and inheritance from a distant relative.”

“You’re a vampire,” Harry said confidently. “You’re, like, the most obvious vampire in the world.”

“I’m not a vampire,” he frowned, his voice growing a bit petulant. 

“You’re _such_ a vampire,” Harry said, starting to jump around excitedly. “Omigod you’re a _vampire!_ Can you turn into a bat? Or is it like in Dracula where you turn into a dog? Or do you turn into mist? You totally turn into something, what is it?”

“You’re not going to leave until I say I’m a vampire, are you?”

“Nope!” Harry grinned. “You’re a vampire! You’re a vampire! Say you’re a vampire! You’re a vampire!”

“Okay, yes! Yes!” he said, throwing up his hands in exasperation. “I admit it, you’re right! I’m a fucking vampire.”

“Yes!” Harry shouted. “I knew it!”

The boy was rubbing his temples and groaning.

Harry crossed the room to the velvet chaise lounge and draped himself across it, arching his back and stretching his neck.

“Okay, cool, go ahead,” he said, trying to angle his neck towards him.

“What are you doing?” the boy frowned.

“I’m ready for you to bite me.”

“What?” he scoffed.

“C’mon,” Harry said, pulling the collar of his shirt all the way off his shoulder and lightly slapping the skin on his neck. “It’s free real estate. Get in there. Eat up.”

“I’m not going to bite you.”

Harry frowned, sitting up.

“Why not?”

“I don’t just _bite_ people,” he glowered. “I’ve got blood bags for that.”

“But you have to bite me,” Harry pouted. “I _want_ you to bite me. That’s, like, all I’ve ever wanted. I’ve been preparing to be a vampire bride since, like, third grade.”

“What, like, as a career?”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “I haven’t done any SAT prep at _all_. You’re the only shot I’ve got. You’re supposed to bite me and be my vampire mate for all of eternity so we can go on cemetery dates and turn into bats and kiss each other’s little bat faces and sleep in a joint coffin together and drink out of one blood bag with two straws.”

The boy just looked at him incredulously.

“You don’t even know my name,” he said, “and you want to spend eternity with me?”

“Well yeah,” Harry nodded. “I figured we’d have a long time to talk about all the boring stuff.”

The boy sighed, sitting down beside Harry.

“I’m Louis,” he said, holding out his hand. “Why don’t we start there?”

“I’m Harry!” Harry said, shivering when Louis’ cold hand touched his. “I like your accent. Are you from Transylvania? Or Romania?”

Louis laughed, his eyes crinkling when he smiled.

“I’m from Doncaster,” he said. “That’s in England.”

“Oh,” Harry blushed. “I’m bad at accents. Can I see your fangs?”

“Sure,” Louis laughed again, dutifully opening his mouth to show off his elongated canines.

“Wow,” Harry breathed, lifting his finger towards Louis’ teeth curiously.

“Careful, Love,” Louis said, catching his wrist in his hand and closing his mouth. “They’re sharp.”

“I know,” Harry pouted. “That’s the point.”

“We’ll work our way up to that, yeah?”

“Alright,” Harry said, a small smile growing on his face.

“I’ve got every version of Dracula on DVD if you wanna watch something,” Louis offered. “And I think I have some grape juice if you wanna pretend it’s blood.”

“Okay,” Harry nodded, eagerly following Louis towards the kitchen.

He had hoped to enter the mansion and never leave, to be swept up in the arms of his eternal love, but he could settle for watching vampire movies next to a cute vampire for now.


	21. "You could talk about it, you know?"

Louis hadn’t missed the way Harry’s eyes kept darting around as they walked through the fall carnival. It was like he thought he was being followed the way he kept glancing behind them and sometimes suddenly pulling Louis down a different path.

“Are you alright?” Louis asked, squeezing his hand. “You seem jumpy.”

“I’m fine,” Harry brushed him off, looking over his shoulder. “Just the, uh, sugar.”

He took another difficult bite of his caramel apple and smiled weakly. Louis didn’t point out that he’d been acting strangely since before they even stepped onto the fairgrounds.

“Do you wanna go on the ferris wheel?”

“I don’t really like heights,” Harry winced. “Maybe something closer to the ground?”

Louis looked around and spotted a big pen with goats and sheep and a few pigs lazing about.

“What about the petting zoo?”

Harry’s eyes widened and he coughed.

“Actually the ferris wheel sounds fun,” he said, his voice cracking. “Why don’t we do that?”

Before Louis could respond Harry was dragging him through the crowd towards the ferris wheel. There were only three people in line so they were loaded onto a gondola quickly.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Louis asked when the worker secured the latch. “If you’re scared of heights we can do something else.”

“No I’m fine,” Harry assured him, his knee bouncing nervously. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

Harry didn’t seem to notice that his grip was turning Louis’ fingers purple.

He squeaked when the wheel started moving, sitting back as far as he could in his seat. His eyes were clenched tightly shut and sweat was forming on his brow.

“Harry,” Louis said cautiously. “You don’t have to do this.”

“No,” Harry shook his head, his eyes still closed and his jaw clenched. “I love it. This is great.”

“I’ll ask them to let us off when we get back to the bottom,” Louis decided. “We don’t need to go around again.”

“If you really want to,” Harry said through gritted teeth.

“It’ll be fine,” Louis reassured him. “We’re almost over the top and then it’ll be over before you know it.”

Harry nodded, seeming to relax minutely. Then the ride jolted to a stop.

“What was that?” Harry asked, fear laced in his voice.

Louis leaned over the side and saw the ride operator calling somebody else over to the board.

“I think it might be stuck,” Louis winced.

“Stuck?” Harry asked, opening his eyes and gasping before clamping them firmly shut again.

“Don’t worry,” Louis assured him, wrapping his arm around his back. “They’re getting it unstuck now. It’ll only be a moment.”

“_Oh no_,” Harry groaned, covering his face with his hands. “I shouldn’t have come. I _knew_ I shouldn’t have come.”

Louis pulled him closer and guided Harry until his face was tucked against Louis’ shoulder.

“Harry, what’s wrong?” he asked, rubbing over his back. “You’ve been acting strange all day.”

“It’s stupid,” Harry said into his shirt.

“You can talk about it, you know?”

Harry sighed, clenching his fists around the ends of Louis’ denim jacket.

“‘_M-ban-fuh-duh-eddin-ooh_,” he said quickly, his voice muffled by fabric.

“What?” Louis frowned.

Harry pulled back and looked at him miserably.

“I’m banned from the petting zoo.”

“_What?_”

Harry pinched his hip sharply.

“I just said,” he whined, burying his face back against Louis’ shoulder. “I’m banned from the petting zoo. For life.”

“How did that happen?” Louis asked incredulously.

“I got too excited,” Harry said reluctantly. “I was nineteen and I’d gotten in a fight with my friend and I was sad so I thought baby animals would cheer me up but I got too excited.”

“Aren’t they used to excited kids?” Louis frowned.

“Well yeah,” Harry shrugged, “but it wasn’t that. There was this little baby sheep, like a _brand new_ one who was still being bottle fed and stuff - ”

“Uhuh,” Louis nodded.

“ - and she was so cute, you know? Like really really tiny and soft and she liked me. She kept sucking on my fingers and stuff. And, um, my mothering instincts kicked in.”

“What did you do?” Louis asked, a sense of dread creeping up on him.

“Nothing bad!” Harry assured him. “I just, um, stole her a little bit.”

“What does that mean?”

“I hid her in my shirt and I tried to leave.”

“And did that work?”

“No,” Harry sulked. “I almost made it all the way back to my car but there was a security person at the exit gate and they, uh, noticed her.”

He looked up when he felt Louis’ shoulder shaking under his head.

“What?” he asked indignantly.

“You stole a _sheep_ from a petting zoo?” Louis laughed, their gondola starting to swing with his movement.

“Louis, stop!” Harry said nervously, clinging to him. “You’re making us move.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Louis chuckled, holding Harry tight. It took them a moment to realize that the gondola’s movement was no longer coming from Louis, the ferris wheel starting to turn again. “Thank god.”

Harry sagged against him as they were lowered to the ground, stumbling towards the stairs the second the worker released them. Louis wrapped a supportive arm around his waist and lead him to safety.

“Have you tried going back ever?” Louis asked when they found themselves back across from the petting zoo.

“Never,” Harry shook his head. “They said I couldn’t.”

“I’d bet that’s just something they say,” Louis told him. “They probably wouldn’t even remember you. It’s been years.”

Harry protested lightly but let Louis guide him to the pen, his heart swelling as he looked at all the farm animals being pet by little children.

“Two, please,” Louis told the woman at the gate, holding up two paper tickets.

“Nope,” she shook her head.

“What do you - ”

She pointed to a small sign beside the gate with a laminated photo of Harry’s face, the words **LIFETIME BAN** printed in big red letters above it.

“Oh,” Louis said, feeling Harry tugging at his clothes. “Right. So sorry. Never mind.”

“I told you,” Harry said glumly as they walked away, the woman’s eyes burning holes in their backs.

“At least it was a cute picture of you,” Louis told him.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “Do you think they’d send me a copy?”


	22. "Change is annoyingly difficult."

“Alright, gang,” Harry said, looking around at the others. “Old Man Phillips said that the ghost has been seen up in the observatory and down in the servants’ halls mostly. Why don’t we split up and check those first?”

“Me and Leah can go to the observatory,” Louis offered.

“Actually,” Leah winced, inching closer to Veronica. “Me and Ronnie were planning to check there. I want to run a few tests and she offered to help me.”

“Oh,” Louis frowned.

“You and I can check out the servants’ halls with Cliff,” Harry told him.

“Okay,” Louis shrugged. Harry always went with Veronica when they split up and Leah usually always came with Louis and Cliff. That was their routine. They’d follow Leah while she looked for clues and Louis would hold the flashlight for her when she needed it and then at some point they’d get separated and Louis and Cliff would get chased by the monster. That’s how it always went.

“Do you want the flashlight?” Harry asked as they crept through the castle-like estate.

“No.”

Harry furrowed his brows but kept walking, shining the light into dusty corners and peering into doorways. Louis and Cliff trailed behind him, Louis’ arms crossed over his chest. Harry always dressed ridiculously, like he was going to a disco and not on a supernatural investigation. His pants were always too tight on his thighs and huge at the hems, swishing around his ankles while he walked, and he always had a stupid little ascot tied around his neck, like some kind of dandy little rich boy. Louis was also almost positive that his hair wasn’t that perfectly curly naturally. He glared at his back, silently hoping that he’d trip on his ridiculous pants in the dark.

“Do you think it’s really the Baroness’ ghost?” Harry asked when the silence had stretched on for too long.

“How should I know?” Louis scoffed. Clifford bumped against his leg and he slouched down to pat his head. “You’re always the one who figures it out in the end.”

“I do not,” Harry frowned, looking at him over his shoulder.

“Yes you do,” Louis argued. “Sometimes Leah does but there’s, like, a formula.”

“A _formula?_” Harry asked, squinting.

“Yeah,” Louis shrugged. “You drive the van and you tell us to split up and you and Ronnie go off to do your own thing and you leave me and Cliff with Leah and she does all the productive stuff while me and Cliff almost get killed and then you come in at the last second to save the day. That’s how it always goes.”

“No it doesn’t,” Harry argued.

“It does,” Louis replied. “It’s messed up this time though because you’re with us instead of Ronnie. I don’t know what’s gonna happen this time.”

“Is that bad?” Harry asked.

“Not knowing?” Louis frowned. “I don’t know.”

“Change is annoyingly difficult,” Harry said as if that were some wise thing. Louis thought he might hate him sometimes.

Harry’s flashlight flickered out and they were plunged into darkness.

“What was that?” Louis asked nervously when he heard a low rumble at the end of the hall.

“I don’t know,” Harry told him. “Let’s go closer.”

“Let’s not,” Louis said, inching closer to him in the dark. Cliff whined lightly at their feet.

An eerie glow arose in the darkness as a figure began to form in the distance.

“Zoinks!” Louis cried as it floated towards them. He grabbed onto the sleeve of Harry’s shirt and ran away from the ghost, Harry quickly meeting his pace. Cliff ran ahead of them and pushed through the door of a broom closet that had been left slightly ajar. Louis followed him, pulling Harry in with him and shutting the door.

They both leaned against the door as they caught their breath, Cliff pacing anxiously through the small space. They could hear a low moaning as the ghost passed by the door, a greenish glow shining through the cracks.

“Is it gone?” Louis asked when it went quiet.

“Let me see.”

Harry opened the door just enough to peak out before quickly shutting it again.

“No,” he said. “It’s just going up and down the hall.”

Louis sighed and sat down against the wall, Cliff laying his big head on his knee.

“We’ll just have to wait it out,” he said, petting down Cliff’s neck. Harry looked like he wanted to protest but instead he sat cross-legged on the floor, his flared pants pooling beneath him.

“I hate waiting,” he admitted, reaching out to pet Cliff’s hip and making the dog stretch out towards him invitingly. Louis frowned down at the dog who was relaxing happily under Harry’s touch.

“You wouldn’t be here if you’d just gone with Ronnie,” Louis pointed out.

“Well I’m sorry your formula got disrupted and you’re stuck here with me,” Harry said bitingly, “but you’ll probably be stuck with me a lot more from now on.”

“What do you mean?” Louis frowned.

“Leah and Ronnie,” Harry shrugged. “I imagine they’ll want to team up more now that they’re, like, together.”

“What?” Louis recoiled, his hand frozen on Cliff’s head.

“Yeah,” Harry said, furrowing his brows. “Didn’t you know? They’ve been dating.”

“But I thought - ” Louis frowned. “Aren’t you and Ronnie…?”

Harry snorted, tilting his head when he saw the confused look on Louis’ face.

“Did you think me and Ronnie were _dating?_” he asked incredulously.

“I mean, I don’t know,” Louis said defensively. “You always team up with her. I just sort of assumed.”

“I always team up with Ronnie because she was too nervous to be alone with Leah,” Harry explained. “She’s had a crush on her forever.”

“Oh,” Louis frowned.

“You really thought I was dating _Veronica?_” Harry asked again, laughing. “Louis, I’ve worn an ascot every day since fifth grade.”

“I - ” Louis said, opening and closing his mouth silently.

“Did you really not know I was gay? We’ve known each other for years.”

Louis had wondered at first, had hoped that Harry liked boys. Back when they started this whole mystery solving thing. But Harry was always with Veronica, always whispering conspiratorially with her, and even though Louis hoped every time the group paired off that Harry would put himself with Louis he never did. Louis just brushed it off, assuming that Harry and Ronnie were off looking for dark corners to kiss in as he trailed uselessly behind Leah.

“It’s not like we really hang out outside of this,” Louis glowered. “Even then we barely talk.”

“I just assumed that you knew,” Harry said, fiddling with his rings. “I thought that was why you didn’t like me. Cause you knew I liked you.”

“I don’t like you because you’re pretentious and you’re bossy and you always wear - ” Louis shook his head as if to clear it, looking up at Harry. “Wait what did you say?”

“I knew you never listened to me,” Harry snorted. Then he said quieter, “I said I like you.”

“Oh,” Louis said, pursing his lips. “Like, in a… _That_ kind of way?”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded.

“Why?” Louis frowned.

“Do I have to have a reason?” Harry scoffed.

“I don’t know,” Louis shrugged. “I just always thought you hated me a little bit, or wanted to kick me out of the group. I don’t really do anything.”

“Well I don’t,” Harry said, “hate you I mean. I like you. I always thought you were cute and you seemed too cool to be going on these weird investigations with us. But you’re really good at it. You always volunteer to lure the monsters out and be bait for them. You’re really brave. But you’re always weird around me so I figured you could tell I had a crush on you.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“I had a crush on you too,” Louis admitted reluctantly. “I still do, I guess. That’s why I was weird. I thought you were, like, too good to like me. Too polished or something. I don’t know. I don’t own a hairbrush and I sleep on the floor with my dog and you have a collection of shoe polish in every color. And you never really talk to me during investigations.”

“I was kind of afraid to talk to you,” Harry told him. “Plus I figured I’d never be able to look for clues if all I could think about was how much I wanted to kiss you.”

“Oh,” Louis said again. “You’re kind of stupid.”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “So are you.”

Harry scooted forward until their knees were pressed together, just a shadowy figure in the darkness, and reached out until his hands found Louis’ arms. He trailed his fingers up until he felt Louis’ chin, smoothing his fingertips over the overgrown scruff on his jaw. Louis reached out blindly until one hand found Harry’s hip, the other laying over the ascot on his neck.

At first Harry’s lips met Louis’ cheek, then the side of his nose. He trailed down until he could press a kiss to Louis’ upper lip and then Louis was kissing him back. He tucked his fingers under the silk of his ascot and pulled him closer, Harry fisting his green sweater in his hands and pressing him harder into the wall, nearly in his lap. When the angle of it all got in the way Harry untangled his legs and straddled Louis against the wall, uprooting Clifford who stood up excitedly.

Harry yelped when he felt a wet tongue lap at his cheek. Louis laughed as Harry fell back, trying in vain to fight off the attack.

“Cliff wants a kiss too,” Louis grinned, pulling on his blue collar so that Harry could sit up. Harry laughed, cupping Cliff’s head in his hands and pressing a loud kiss between his eyes.

When they finally found Leah and Veronica the girls saw Harry’s disheveled curls and his crooked ascot along with Louis’ sweater which had gotten turned inside out and they exchanged a knowing look, Leah promising to pay Veronica five dollars when they got back to the van.


	23. "We could have a chance."

“We could have a chance,” Louis said, not sounding at all convinced.

Zayn snorted, and she whacked his arm.

Their pumpkin might have won the contest if Louis had never touched it. Really it was Zayn’s fault for letting her near it. He’d sketched out an intricate design of superheroes and villains, all modeled after old comic books, but Louis insisted on helping him cut it out. With a few slips of her knife one of the figures lost his arm and another lost her head. Every attempt she made to fix her mistakes had only resulted in more carnage and soon enough Zayn’s beautiful design was a mess of jagged lines and mashed pumpkin goo.

“Which one’s yours?”

Louis turned and froze when she saw Harry from her art history class.

“It’s the, er, second to the left,” Louis told her sheepishly.

“Oh,” Harry said, her head cocking to the side as she looked at it. “It’s sort of abstract.”

Louis swung her arm blindly behind her at Zayn who was laughing into his hand.

“Yeah,” Louis nodded. “It _is_ sort of abstract. Thank you for noticing. Did you enter one?”

“It’s that one there,” Harry pointed. “Three down from yours.”

Louis followed the line of Harry’s finger and squinted.

“Are those penises?”

“What?” Harry asked, her nose scrunching up.

Zayn clapped a hand on Louis’ shoulder, shaking with laughter. “I’m gonna go… Over there,” he said before walking away aimlessly, glancing back every now and again to shake his head at Louis.

“Um. On your pumpkin,” Louis said, as if that might make it better. “The design.”

“It’s a ghost,” Harry smiled bemusedly. “And a cat. And a broomstick.”

“It looks more like a bunch of penises, Mate,” Louis told her, wishing she could glue her mouth shut.

Harry looked at her own pumpkin, pursing her lips.

“I think you might be right actually,” she said, breaking into an amused grin. “Those are definitely penises.”

“I told you,” Louis said. “If they’ve got a prize for Most Phallic you’ll definitely win.”

“I hope so,” Harry laughed.

Liam, the student volunteer who was judging the competition, went up to look over the pumpkins with a very official looking clipboard.

“Good luck,” Harry smiled.

“You too.”

Liam deliberated with the other volunteers before pulling out a wholly unnecessary microphone to project his voice to the small crowd standing on the lawn. They waited as he read out the names of the winners.

“…and third prize goes to Harry Styles - ”

Louis whooped loudly, clapping her hands and cheering as Harry’s face went pink.

“Please hold applause until the end,” Liam said, his eyes on Louis, before looking back at his clipboard. He read up to fifth place, neither Louis or Zayn’s names ever mentioned.

“You should have at least placed,” Harry said once she’d collected her third place ribbon. “I like your pumpkin, I think it’s unique.”

“So is yours,” Louis told her, grinning. “Yours was the only N-S-F-W one.”

“Heyyy,” Harry said, trying to look offended but failing. “Do you want my ribbon? I don’t really know what to do with it.”

“You don’t want it?” Louis asked, taking it when Harry shook her head. “But you’ve earned it!”

Louis dug an old sharpie from the pocket of her bag and scribbled across the ribbon before handing it back.

“See? You’ve got to keep it.”

Harry read the new inscription and laughed.

“_Most Phallic Pumpkin_?” she read.

“You should be proud of that,” Louis grinned.

“I’ll treasure it forever,” Harry promised.

“I should hope so,” Louis told her. “Here, let me see it for a second.”

Harry handed the ribbon back over and Louis jotted down her phone number on the back of it.

“There,” she said. “In case you have any pumpkin related emergencies.”

“Thanks,” Harry said, biting her lip and looking down at the Sharpie-covered ribbon in her hand.

Zayn rolled his eyes and gathered their ruined pumpkin in his arms, wondering if he might be able to salvage it without Louis looming over his shoulder.


	24. "You can't give more than yourself."

Harry had never performed a love spell in her life and as she stepped into the small metaphysical shop she thought maybe Aphrodite was trying to fuck with her.

Harry usually did spells for luck or to help her plants grow, the occasional confidence spell or a spell for protection placed over her friends. She’d always thought love spells seemed a bit skeevy, the kind of things sold by scam artists and soaked with musty fake rose smell. It seemed unfair to use magic to make someone fall in love with you, manipulative to change someone’s feelings. But the girl down the hall had moved in months ago and she had yet to even _look_ at Harry. She thought maybe a small spell just to get her attention couldn’t hurt. She wouldn’t _make_ the girl like her, she’d just give her the opportunity to decide if she liked Harry on her own. Harry was good at making people like her, even without magic, but only after they’d noticed her.

It all felt a bit unnecessary though when the bell over the door rang and suddenly the girl in question’s eyes were on her.

“Hey,” she greeted from behind the counter, setting down the book she’d been reading. “Can I help you find anything?”

“Oh, um,” Harry said, looking down at her list of ingredients. The whole purpose of buying them was to make the girl look at her but suddenly they were all useless. “Mandrake root?”

“Hmm,” the girl furrowed her brows and looked around the store. “I think it’s over with the herbs and stuff. Sorry, I just started here and I’m not sure where everything is yet. Let me see.”

She rounded the counter and wove around the many tables and displays, Harry quick on her heels. The girl started looking through the jars of dried herbs, frowning when she didn’t see the mandrake.

“We must not have any,” she said apologetically.

“I think it’s usually with the fresh herbs,” Harry told her, nodding towards a different table with rows of small potted plants and fresh cut flowers. On a shelf above it was a large glass jar with mandrake roots.

“Oh,” the girl said sheepishly. She stood on her tiptoes and pulled the jar from the shelf, Harry’s eyes darting down her elongated form before snapping back up. “You should probably be the one working here. Do you come in often?”

“When I need to,” Harry shrugged.

“And you need mandrake root?”

“It comes in handy.”

“What else do you need?”

Harry looked back down at her list. She didn’t really need any of it, not anymore, but she wanted to keep talking to the girl. She liked how it felt to be looked at by her, and she wanted to feel it some more.

“I always need rose quartz.”

“I know where that one is,” the girl grinned, leading the way to the large alcove filled with bowls and dishes and tubs of crystals. “I’m Louis, by the way,” she said as she walked.

“I’m Harry.”

“Well, Harry,” Louis said, watching as Harry sifted through the different sizes and shapes of rose quartz. “What do you need mandrake and quartz for?”

“The usual,” Harry smiled. “Charms, spells. Enchantments.”

“And how’s that work then?” Louis asked. “You call upon the powers that be and they grant your wishes?”

Harry laughed, lining up a few stones she liked.

“No, not like that,” she said. “It’s got to come from within. You can’t give more than yourself. You can ask for some help, some instruction maybe, but it’s more about your own power. Your intent, really.”

“So you believe in all that?” Louis asked, unconsciously leaning closer as she scrutinized Harry. “The magic stuff?”

“You don’t?” Harry asked. “You’re the one working here.”

“It’s a job,” Louis shrugged. “We live in a capitalist society. They aren’t paying me to believe.”

“But you’ve got to believe in something,” Harry argued. “There’s no use living if you’ve got nothing to believe in, doesn’t matter if it’s magic or love or the moon pulling the tides and the sun pulling sunflowers up to greet her. It’s all the same.”

Louis’ lips were pursed in a little smile as she watched Harry make her selection and gather up the crystals she wanted.

When Harry got home and unpacked the little paper bag Louis had put her purchases in she noticed a note scribbled on the back of her receipt. There was a phone number written down and below it with a little smiley face was:

_-L (28B)_

Harry grinned and held the note to her chest, itching for the next time she saw Louis in the elevator.


	25. "Patience... is not something I'm known for."

Harry was jittery, wanting nothing more than to run out into the night and shed her skin but instead she was stuck inside.

“Maybe if I go for a run or something,” she said. “Maybe it’ll trigger the endorphins or something.”

“Maybe an orgasm would do it,” Louis smirked, pulling Harry down on the couch.

Harry made a face.

“I’m so bloated right now I don’t even want sex,” she frowned.

“Well it _must_ be serious then,” Louis smiled, guiding Harry to lay her head in her lap. “You’ve just got to wait. I’ve tried all the old wives tales before but you just have to let it happen naturally. Be patient with it.”

“Patience is not something I’m known for,” Harry groaned into Louis’ knee.

“It’ll happen,” Louis assured her, carding her fingers through her hair soothingly.

Harry had only transformed once before she met Louis, the older girl easily taking her under her wing and helping her to manage her new abilities. The feelings that developed between them came as naturally as the shift from human to wolf, and happened nearly as quickly.

“It was supposed to happen three days ago,” Harry whined. “I’m late.”

“Your cycle’s still developing,” Louis reminded her. “It could take years to get on a regular schedule.”

“I’ve already been through all this,” Harry told her. “I should have been done with this when I was thirteen. I’m not nearly old enough to have to deal with another irregular cycle in my life.”

“Menstruation and lycanthropy are not the same thing,” Louis smiled amusedly.

“They basically are,” Harry argued. “It’s like I’ve got two periods now. It sucks.”

“Just wait until they overlap,” Louis told her.

“God, I didn’t even think about that,” Harry groaned. “Has that happened to you?”

“Yeah,” Louis laughed. “At least all the running as a wolf helps with cramps. The PMS is awful though. It’s like everything doubles.”

“That’s awful,” Harry grimaced, turning and tucking her face into the soft swell of Louis’ belly. “Do you promise to bring me hot water bottles and rub my belly for me if that happens?”

“Of course,” Louis smiled. “If you do the same for me.”

“Obviously.”

Louis brushed Harry’s hair back and grinned when she saw her ear which had grown to a soft point at the stop.

“I think it’s starting,” she told her, leaning down to kiss the tip of her ear.

“Really?” Harry asked, peeking up at her.

“C’mon, let’s go outside,” Louis said, urging her up from the couch. “I don’t want you shifting in here and knocking everything over again.”

Harry had a tendency to act like a huge excited puppy when she shifted, wriggling and jumping around and letting her tail bang about mercilessly and many of Louis’ dishes and vases had been victims to it already.

“Let’s go,” Harry grinned, already turning into a dog who had heard the word walk.

“Alright,” Louis laughed, leading the way to the door. She smiled when she saw the relief pass through Harry’s body as the shift overtook her, the waiting finally over.


	26. "I could really eat something."

Harry could feel somebody watching him. There was a band playing on the boardwalk, something rock-y, and it seemed like every teenager in Santa Cruz had to be there. Harry scanned the crowd, still swaying to the music, until his eyes locked on someone else’s. The boy had blue eyes, Harry could see even from a distance. He had a sharp sort of face, pretty in an almost dangerous way, and he was staring straight at Harry, his eyes unwavering. Harry snapped his eyes back to the band as if he hadn’t noticed the boy, a flush rising in his cheeks. He loosened his hips, letting them swing from side to side, his neck prickling with the weight of the eyes on him. He glanced back and the boy was still watching as intently as ever.

Harry was usually too embarrassed to dance alone but something about the boy watching him made him want to. Every time he glanced over the boy was still looking at him, turned completely away from the band with his lips quirked in a small smile. Harry swayed too far and bumped into an older woman, nearly falling over as he rushed to apologize to her. When he looked up the boy was laughing at him but he didn’t look mean.

When the concert ended a few songs later the crowd immediately dispersed and Harry was lost in the flow of people, losing sight of the boy immediately. He let himself get moved by the crowd until finally it thinned out and he could continue his stroll down the boardwalk, watching the rides and inspecting each booth. There was a jewelry stand set up with a few people lingering to watch a girl get her ears pierced, clutching a teddy bear in her lap while the worker set out the gear. Harry watched in fascination as he brought the piercing gun up to her ear and pulled the trigger with a snap. The girl flinched and Harry brought his hand up to his own ear, fingering the lobe absentmindedly.

“It’s a rip off, you know,” he heard from just behind him.

Harry whipped around to find himself nose-to-nose with the blue eyed boy.

“What?” he asked dumbly.

“These stands,” the boy explained. “They jack up the prices. If you want your ear pierced I can do it for free.”

“Oh,” Harry said, his mind still blank. “Really?”

“Yeah,” the boy grinned. He began to walk away and Harry followed him reflexively. “I’ve done it loads of times.”

He brushed the hair off of his forehead with a quick flick of his chin and Harry noticed the cross dangling from his ear.

“What’s your name?” Harry asked, stumbling after him.

“Louis,” the boy grinned. “And yours?”

“Harry.”

“You know we’ve both got old man names,” Louis mused. “Louis and Harry.”

“I like Louis,” Harry said, blushing when Louis spun and began to walk backwards, watching him with his hands tucked in his leather jacket pockets.

“And I like Harry.” He easily wove in and out of the crowd, his step never faltering even with his back turned. “I haven’t seen you here before.”

“We just moved yesterday,” Harry told him. “My mum and my sister and me. We’re from Cheshire, in England.”

“Santa Cruz is a long way from England.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed. “It’s like another world.”

“Why’d you decide to move?”

“My mum got a divorce. She and my dad had been separated for years but they finally made it official. She got a job offer over here and her cousin lives in town so we figured we’d all come.”

“And what do you think of our town so far?”

“It’s nice,” Harry told him. “I haven’t seen much of it yet, other than the boardwalk, but I like it here.”

“The boardwalk is a great place to pass the time,” Louis said before glancing over his shoulder. “Hey, I’m supposed to be getting back to my friends…”

“Oh,” Harry said, trying to hide the way his face fell. “Of course, yeah. I should probably - ”

“Do you wanna come with us?”

The hopeful look on Louis’ face made Harry’s heart leap in his chest.

“Alright,” he nodded, biting his lip. “Yeah. That could be cool.”

“Rad,” Louis grinned, raising up his shoulders until the collar of his jacket was covering his mouth. He spun on his heel and lead Harry towards the entrance. “They’re right over here.”

Harry balked when he saw three boys in leather jackets like Louis’ leaning on three gleaming motorcycles under a street light.

“Alright, boys?” Louis called when they got close. “This is Harry. He’s joining us tonight.”

Harry shrank a bit under the scrutinizing gazes of the three boys. He felt grossly out of place in his white Fleetwood Mac t-shirt and his oatmeal colored cardigan.

“Harry, this is Liam,” Louis said, pointing to the boy with a shaved head, “Niall,” the boy with the overgrown bleach job, “and Zayn,” the boy with the slicked back greaser hair.

“Let’s go,” Zayn said, flicking the butt of his cigarette on the ground. The three of them straddled their bikes and Louis stepped up to his own.

“I don’t have a motorcycle,” Harry told him quietly.

“I know,” Louis smiled easily. “You can ride with me.”

He swung his leg over his bike and gestured for Harry to follow. Harry clumsily climbed on behind him and Louis looked over his shoulder at him.

“You’ll have to hold on to me,” he told him. Harry slid his hands over the smooth leather of Louis’ jacket and rested them at his sides. Louis smiled and took hold of his wrists, pulling them all the way around his waist until Harry could link his hands over Louis’ belly.

The other boys rolled their eyes and revved their bikes, taking off into the night.

“Hold tight,” Louis warned him before kicking the motorcycle to life and racing after them. The air whipped around them like they were flying and Harry tightened the grip of his arms. He rested his head against Louis’ back as Louis’ hair fluttered and flicked across his face. It was hard to tell how far they went with only the moonlight to see by and the bike going so fast but when Louis brought them to a stop Harry’s face felt frozen and he could hear waves crashing below them.

“It’s just down here,” Louis told him as they left the bike with the others on the cliff. He took Harry’s hand in his own and helped him get his footing as they climbed down into an abandoned building. “It was a hotel once,” Louis explained as Harry looked around at the grimy fountains and the chandelier which must have fallen to the ground ages ago, bits of shattered crystal littered on the cracked tile floor. There were candles lit up ahead and the other boys were already sprawled across various surfaces, eating out of little white boxes.

“We got chinese if you want any,” Liam called without looking up from his chow mein.

Louis swooped in and grabbed an eggroll, climbing up to sit on the back of one of the lobby benches.

“Are you hungry, Harry?” Niall asked, a wide smile on his face.

“I could eat something,” Harry shrugged, tugging on the hem of his cardigan.

“Here,” Niall beamed, holding out a carton. “Have some rice.”

Harry reached out his hand but jumped and pulled it back when he saw what was in the box, gasping. Rather than rice, it was filled with squirming maggots.

A hand swung past Harry and knocked the carton out of Niall’s hand and onto the ground.

“Cut that shit out,” Louis scowled.

Niall frowned at him as if in confusion.

“You love that trick,” he said, affronted.

Harry was still staring at the carton on the ground, grains of white rice spilled around it. Louis picked it up and placed his hand on Harry’s knee.

“It’s just rice, see?” he said, tilting it towards Harry.

“But it looked like…” Harry trailed off, furrowing his brows.

“Just rice,” Louis told him, scooping up some with his fingers and dropping it in his mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ends very abruptly but that's because it was getting long and I felt like if I wrote any more I'd never finish so this will be getting a part 2!


	27. "You keep me warm."

“Hey, Harry,” Liam called from over the fence, stopping on his way to grab something he’d left outside earlier in the day. “Did you get a dog?”

“No,” Harry smiled, petting the big wolfish dog sitting beside him on the grass. “He’s Louis’. I’m puppy sitting for the weekend.

The dog pushed his head against Harry’s shoulder, making him laugh.

“He’s so cute,” Liam gushed. “He looks like he could be a wolf, he’s so huge.”

“He’s a malamute mix,” Harry grinned and the dog huffed.

“You know I just got a book on how to draw wolves,” Liam told him. “You could borrow it some time if you’d like. You could draw one that looked just like him!”

“That would be great,” Harry said, patting the dog’s neck.

“I’ve got to get back inside, it was nice seeing you Harry!” Liam waved. “Have fun with- What’s his name?”

Harry looked at the dog and smirked.

“Spot.”

“Have fun with Spot!”

Harry waved goodbye to Liam, knocked flat on his back the second he was out of sight. The wolf looming over him growled threateningly.

“Relax, Lou,” Harry smiled easily, reaching up scrub his hands over the wolf’s jaw. “I couldn’t tell him your name was Louis. Who names their dog after themself?”

The wolf leveled him with an unimpressed look.

“Well if you want another name you’ll just have to decide for yourself when you’re human again,” Harry told him.

Louis huffed but relaxed, laying his torso over Harry’s and pressing his nose against Harry’s shoulder.

“Maybe we should get a dog,” Harry said, running his fingers through the bristly hair on Louis’ back. “It’s kind of fun. I like petting you.”

Louis hummed noncommittally and pressed into Harry’s touch.

“And you’d have a friend for when you wolf out,” Harry grinned. “I could take you two to the dog park or something and you could play together.”

Louis groaned and let his full weight fall on Harry’s chest, making him Oof and push at him.

“Okay, fine,” he relented, and Louis let off of him. “I do think we should get a dog though. Together. If we’re ever, like, in the same place you know.”

Harry grinned when he felt a big rough tongue swipe over his cheek and he wrapped his arms around Louis’ neck, giggling as the kisses tickled over his skin.

“Off! Off!” Harry laughed, craning his neck to get away even with his arms holding Louis close. “Bad dog!”

Louis nipped him lightly on the jaw and growled until Harry rubbed his ears. They settled down for a while, Louis dozing lightly while Harry looked up at the stars, until the chill of night settled in. Louis stood up and stretched, nudging Harry and nodding towards the house.

“Just a bit longer,” Harry told him, grabbing handfuls of Louis’ fur and pulling him back until he was wrapped around him. “You’ll keep me warm.”

Louis huffed longsufferingly but curled his body protectively around Harry’s, his tail thumping lightly on the ground.


	28. "Can you wait for me?"

Harry’s body felt stiff, as it always did at first. He tilted his head all the way to the right and felt his neck snap with a satisfying pop. He was still sat on the ground, his empty grave behind him, when Louis came lumbering over.

“You’re finally up,” he said, holding out his hand to help Harry to his feet. “I’d have started to worry if you weren’t late every year.”

“I’ve been dead longer than you,” Harry reminded him, wincing as he stomped his foot to get rid of the needles and pins feeling running up his leg. “It takes me a little longer.”

“Well come on,” Louis said, stepping towards the gate of the cemetery. “It’s nearly midnight already.”

“Can you wait for me?” Harry asked. “My fingers are still numb.”

“Of course,” Louis told him, taking one of Harry’s hands in his own and rubbing some feeling back into it. Harry shivered, and offered up his other hand when Louis finished. “You’re absolutely covered in dirt, you know.”

“As if you’re any better,” Harry scoffed.

Louis brushed his hands roughly over the shoulders of Harry’s suit, knocking some of the dirt off. It was useless though, as dirt seemed woven into the fabric of all their clothes after so many years of burying and unburying themselves. Louis brought his fingers to Harry’s face, using a gentle touch to wipe some of the grime from his pale skin. Harry closed his eyes and leaned into it.

“I don’t know how you get so much grass in your hair,” Louis tutted, doing his best to pick some of it out. In his efforts he unearthed a small beetle that fell onto Harry’s shoulder. “Gross.”

Harry smiled at the bug and plucked it up between his fingers, depositing it safely on the ground.

“Are you ready now?” Louis asked, holding out his hand expectantly.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded, sliding his hand into Louis’.

Together they walked hand in hand beneath the street lights, passing the few stragglers walking to and from Halloween parties who barely glanced at either of them. It was easy to go unnoticed on Halloween, to pretend that they were on their way home to wash away the dirt and the grime and to fall into a warm bed together and sleep, as if they hadn’t spent the past three hundred and sixty four days sleeping.

“There’s a bowl up ahead!” Harry pointed out excitedly.

They ran to the deserted porch and hungrily delved into the large plastic cauldron, filling their pockets with the leftover sweets. They filled their empty bellies with chocolate and caramel and nougat, until their mouths were sticky and their spit had turned thick and syrupy sweet.

“I always forget how hungry I am until I eat,” Harry groaned as they went looking for another abandoned candy bowl. 

“I hate to say it but sometimes I start to wish people would leave out plates of vegetables for Halloween,” Louis said. “I can’t remember the last time I ate anything that wasn’t sugar.”

“Here,” Harry said, picking out a peanut from the candy bar he was eating. He held it out for Louis. “There’s a vegetable.”

“Peanuts aren’t vegetables, Love,” Louis smiled but ate the peanut anyway. “Nuts are some other thing.”

“Oh. Maybe we could find some seeds or something and plant some vegetables between our graves. Then by next year they’ll have grown and we could harvest them.”

“Maybe,” Louis said, taking Harry’s hand back in his. “I like this though, hunting for sweets with you.

“We could still do that,” Harry reminded him. “We’d just have some carrots to go with all the chocolate.”

“Maybe,” Louis said again with a smile. “If we happen to find any seeds laying about.”

They kept walking, unwrapping more of the candies in their pockets until they only had one Cadbury bar left which they passed back and forth between them. They walked until they reached their favorite hill, the one that loomed over the village and allowed a nice view of the stars. They knelt down to the ground, their joints still a bit stiff, and settled on the soft grass with Harry’s head on Louis’ shoulder.

“I dreamt about you, you know,” Harry said after a while. “I always do.”

“Me too,” Louis told him, kissing his temple. “All of my dreams are about you.”

“What happens in your dreams?” Harry asked.

“All kinds of things,” Louis said, wrapping his arm around Harry’s back. “I dream about waking up in the day time, already next to you. Sometimes we’re just laying in the grass, or we’re in a real bed. I dream about cooking for you, or introducing you to my family. Sunbathing out in the yard. Kissing you in the grocery store. Doing normal things.”

“I wish I could do those kinds of things with you,” Harry sighed. “I miss the sun. I dream a lot about us in the sun. Having one of those windows that faces East so you wake up with the sun in your eyes and your pillow’s warm. I dream about waking up and turning over and shoving my face in your chest and falling back asleep with the sun on my back.”

“That sounds nice,” Louis said, closing his eyes and smiling as if he was picturing it.

“At least we have this,” Harry said. He turned his face and pressed a kiss to Louis’ shoulder.

“I wish we had more.”

Harry straightened up to kiss the wistful look from Louis’ face, both of their mouths still sugary and sweet from all the candy they’d eaten.

On their way back to the graveyard Harry knelt beside an overgrown bush and shoved his hands between the leaves, uncaring of the thorny vines.

“What are you doing?” Louis asked, standing behind him.

“Close your eyes and hold out your hands,” Harry told him excitedly.

Louis followed his instructions and felt Harry fill his cupped hands with something soft and round. When he opened his eyes he found a pile of wild blackberries, bleeding purple onto his hands. Louis grinned and popped one in his mouth, dancing happily as he chewed.

“Thank you,” he said, bringing three more to his mouth. He pressed a berry tinted kiss to Harry’s cheek.

“I can’t let you get scurvy,” Harry grinned, eating his own handful of berries. They were soft and overripe so late in the season but they gobbled them down eagerly. When the sky began to lighten they walked back through the cemetery gates, taking a longing look at the sunlight just ghosting over the tops of the trees.

Louis left his own grave empty, instead following Harry to his.

“Maybe if we lay together our dreams will sync up,” he said as they climbed beneath the earth. “Maybe we’ll wake up together in the sun.”

Harry kissed him as sleep overtook them both, their arms tight around each other as the dirt pressed them closer together.


	29. "Enough! I heard enough!"

“And so the little monster climbed into his coffin to sleep, but outside the humans were gathering,” Niall said ominously, the flashlight he held against his chin illuminating his face and shining through his translucent skin onto the wall behind him. On his right in the circle sat Zayn, sipping at his blood pouch and listening curiously, then Liam who had his white furry ears cocked forward in rapt attention. On Niall’s left was Louis, sitting back and lazily flicking his tail. Harry sat beside him, anxiously shoveling french flies into his mouth with trembling webbed fingers. “They passed around fiery torches and gnashed their blunt teeth, filled with an unquenchable blood lust.”

Zayn rolled his eyes, the straw of his blood pouch still between his teeth.

“Sorry, Zayn,” Niall smiled so his side. “They marched towards his cave in their sensible pumps and their sports coats, with their hairspray and perms, smelling of _perfume_ and _deodorant_ \- ”

“No!” Harry gasped, biting his claws.

“Yes!” Niall glowered menacingly. “They shouted things like ‘_Tax season again?_’ and ‘_We really needed that rain last night_’ and ‘_I’m not an alcoholic, I’m a wine mom!_’”

“Stop!” Harry begged.

“They surrounded the little monster and pounded on his coffin, setting his beautiful cave on fire. They laughed their horrible laughs and clinked their cups of coffee and rosé as the monster cried out and they - ”

“Enough!” Harry cried. “I’ve heard enough!”

“It’s just a story, Harry,” Liam assured him, his big brown eyes full of concern.

“Yeah,” Niall said, letting the flashlight slip through his hand and land on the ground. “You know humans aren’t real.”

“Well I don’t like thinking about them,” Harry frowned. “They creep me out.”

“Sorry I scared you,” Niall told him.

“Can we just go to bed?” Harry asked.

“Sure,” Liam nodded. All of them got their bed rolls and spread out on the floor.

Louis brought his over to Harry and touched the fin on his elbow.

“You could lay your bed next to mine if you want,” he offered.

“Okay,” Harry agreed. He unrolled his waterproof bedding and crawled inside, snuggling down and letting his slime seep out to coat everything around him. Beside him Louis slid into his warm flannel bedroll and closed his eyes to sleep. Harry tried to do the same but every time he closed his eyes he saw flashes of golf pants and acrylic nails and cashmere sweaters. He lay there silently, listening to Liam howl softly in his sleep for what felt like hours. Niall was floating around near the ceiling, fast asleep and drifting lazily on some current in the air.

Harry set his sights on Louis, curled up peacefully just inches away. He didn’t particularly want to wake anybody up but Louis had a knack for falling asleep in seconds anywhere he was. If anybody would be able to fall back asleep easily it would be him. Harry pursed his lips and blew on one of Louis’ ears, watching it flick at the disturbance.

“Louis?” he whispered. The ear flicked again. “Are you asleep?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

Louis cracked open one eye, peering at Harry with one of his vertically slitted pupils.

“What do you want?”

“I can’t sleep,” Harry admitted. “I keep thinking about Niall’s story.”

Louis sighed but his other eye opened and he sat up, Harry scrambling to follow.

“It was just a story,” Louis told him softly. “There’s no such thing as humans. Niall was just trying to scare you.”

“But what if they _do_ exist?” Harry asked. “What if they came here and tried to hurt us?”

“Then I’d protect you,” Louis grinned. He flexed his fingers and his claws sprang out. “Do you think some human could get through these?”

“I don’t know,” Harry shrugged.

“You’re doubting me?” Louis pretended to gasp. “I’ll have you know I could rip a hundred humans to shreds. They’d never even get to _look_ at you.”

A small smile was starting to spread across Harry’s wide green mouth.

“Trust me,” Louis told him. “You never have to worry about humans with me around.”

“Okay,” Harry nodded, feeling a bit better.

“Why don’t I tell you a nice story, so you can go to sleep?” Louis asked.

“You don’t have to,” Harry told him.

“I want to,” Louis said. “Come here. We can have a little cuddle.”

Harry scooted closer and laid his head on Louis’ lap, relaxing when Louis started to pet over the soft skin behind his gills.

“Once upon a time there was a little monster in a big green swamp,” Louis began in a soft voice. “He spent his days catching flies and swimming in the slime and talking to the fish. One day he met a very brave and handsome werecat who was looking for some fish for his supper. The little monster got very mad, and told the cat that the fish were his friends. The cat said that he was sorry and explained that he was just hungry, and wanted something to eat. So the little monster agreed to help him find food somewhere else. They went off together and became the very best of friends, and when finally they found…”

Harry fell asleep before Louis could finish his story, his head going heavy against Louis’ knee. Louis smiled down at him fondly and pulled the blanket around them both, curling his body around Harry’s and falling into a deep sleep.


	30. "I'm doing this for you."

It was hard to concentrate on making a sandwich when Harry was standing four feet away pretending to choke his phone. All of the ingredients were laid out around two pieces of bread but Louis couldn’t stop squinting at his boyfriend, watching as he stuck his tongue out and ran his hand through his middle-parted hair.

“Oh, fuck,” Harry muttered, dropping his phone to the floor with a clatter. He scrambled to pick it up and check it over for new cracks.

“Y’alright there?” Louis asked, absentmindedly running a knife over the open faced bread without looking at it.

“Yeah,” Harry frowned. “I need to get a tripod or something. I keep dropping my phone.”

“Ah,” Louis nodded, laying down a slice of cheese.

Harry turned on his phone light and twisted around to film shots of the many chains hanging from the belt loops of his too-big Dickies.

“Do you think they’re shiny enough?” he asked, furrowing his brows. “Maybe I could get a flashlight or something. Do we have any of that non-stick spray? That might make them shinier.”

“They look shiny to me,” Louis told him, tearing up some pieces of iceberg lettuce.

“But will it translate on camera?” Harry asked. “I want it to do that lens flare thing.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a filter or summat.”

“Oh.”

Harry stopped talking for a bit, moving the phone up to film the chains and collars around his neck, clenching his jaw and flexing his shoulder as the camera panned over his collar bones.

“Babe, Dr. Garcia said you need to stop clenching your teeth,” Louis reminded him, adding some slices of ham to his sandwich.

Harry dropped his hands to his sides and pouted.

“But I need to!”

“He said he was gonna give you a mouth guard if you keep doing it.”

“But it sharpens my jawline,” Harry whined.

“And it’s ruining your teeth,” Louis scolded lightly, reaching out and cupping Harry’s jaw in his hand. “Your jaw’s perfect just the way it is. You don’t need to go cracking your teeth.”

Louis pecked a kiss to his cheek and Harry smiled.

“Are you going to make a sandwich?”

“Yeah, I just need to finish this video. I need some shots of the veins on my hands.”

“I’ll start one for you,” Louis told him.

Harry pushed up the sleeves of his black and white striped shirt and laid his hand on the counter, flexing his black-tipped fingers and squeezing his hand while he pointed the camera at it.

“Do you want to put on a movie or something while we eat?” Louis asked while he put together Harry’s sandwich.

Harry winced.

“I’ve got to practice my eye rolls,” he said apologetically. “I can’t get my fingers to do the right rhythm when I’m tapping my temple if I’m rolling my eyes at the same time. It doesn’t look right.”

“I’m sure it looks fine, Babe,” Louis told him. “Can’t you take a break from all the Tip Top stuff for one night?”

“It’s TikTok,” Harry corrected, “and I can’t. This is my job now. I’m doing this for us - For _you!_ I’m building my empire! Plus I can’t let down my fans.”

Louis decided not to mention that Harry only had 43 followers.

“How about we put a movie on and relax, and then after that I’ll help you with your videos,” Louis suggested.

Harry bit his lip, considering the offer.

“Will you draw hearts on your face and wear the blue wig and kiss my cheek and lip sync with me?”

“Sure, Babe.”

“Which movie do you wanna watch?”


	31. "I'm with you, you know that."

Harry had never thought of herself as the sort of girl to join a sorority, but it was the only student housing that was just for vampires and her mom said she’d feel better about Harry going to school if she knew there were other vampires looking after her. Gemma had been in the sorority when she went to school and had seemed to enjoy it, and if Harry was being honest the idea of rooming with a banshee or a poltergeist wasn’t very appealing. She’d rather be surrounded by people like her who would understand the struggles of their kind and would never forget to shut the drapes in the daytime.

When she arrived at the door for her first night she didn’t know what to expect, if the house would be decked out in hot pink or if it would be leaning more into the vampire side of things with bats and cobwebs in every corner. But the house seemed normal, just like all the others on the block. It was big, maybe three stories, with big windows framed with thick curtains ready to be dropped before sunrise and a nice little front lawn with a picket fence. There were other girls moving in, dragging duffel bags and directing movers lugging coffins inside.

“Are you moving into the house?” someone asked, jolting Harry out of her daze. She turned and saw a girl with sharp pixie-like features, drowning in a large black hoodie.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “My name is Harry.”

“I’m Louis,” the girl said, shaking Harry’s free hand. “I’m one of the upperclassmen. If you need anything, I’ll be around.”

She winked, disappearing into the crowd as a flush crept up Harry’s face. Harry made her way inside and found one of the school-issued coffins she’d decided to use, rather than move her own from home. The second floor held all of the underclassmen like Harry, all of their coffins laid out in one big communal room. Harry dropped her things at the foot of hers and settled in to watch the rest of the move in process.

Liam Payne, the house mother who looked barely older than any of them but claimed to have a few hundred years on them, came around and introduced herself to all of the girls, inviting them to the common room downstairs for some games to break the ice. While they circled around learning each other’s names and sharing fun facts, Harry kept catching Louis’ eyes on her. The other girl was standing off to the side with the other upperclassmen, sipping from a blood bag, but her eyes kept finding Harry in the crowd. Not for the first time Harry hated that she blushed so much easier than other vampires.

By the time they started lowering the black-out curtains and brushing their fangs Harry was exhausted from all of the socializing. She climbed into her coffin and said good morning to Niall, one of the girls she’d met whose coffin was next to hers. It wasn’t long until everybody had settled in, the room slowly filling with the sounds of deep slow breathing and light snoring. Harry tried to sleep but she kept tossing the turning, unable to find a comfortable position in the unfamiliar coffin.

Her mind started to wander, running in circles about her upcoming classes and wondering if she’d made a good enough impression that day and if the black-out curtains were really covering the sun as well as the thick layered blinds she had at home. It must have been close to mid-day when she climbed out of her coffin as silently as she could and crept through the house. She tip-toed down the stairs and stepped into the kitchen, jumping when she saw a figure standing in the dark.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

Harry flicked on the dim overhead light and saw Louis pouring a mug of tea in just a t-shirt and bat-print boxers.

“No,” Harry shook her head.

“Happens to the best of us,” Louis told her. She opened the cabinet and pulled down another mug. “Tea?”

“Sure,” Harry agreed.

When Louis handed her the mug the tea inside was tinged a dark red that told Harry she’d used one of the blood-infused tea bags that Harry’s mom always said were too expensive to buy.

“Did you bring your coffin from home?” Louis asked, blowing on her tea and leaning back against the counter.

“No,” Harry said, lifting the mug to smell the mix of sweet herbs and iron-y blood. “I’m using one of the school ones.”

“Oh, those are _awful_,” Louis said, making a face. “I had to use one once when mine was being repaired and I didn’t sleep at _all_.”

“It’s not the worst,” Harry reasoned, taking a small sip of her still too-hot tea.

“But not the best?” Louis smiled.

“Not the best,” Harry agreed. “I don’t think I’d sleep that well anyway, though. I always have a hard time sleeping away from home. It’ll take a few days to adjust.”

“I’ve got the same problem,” Louis told her. “You know I’ve got six little siblings at home? It felt so weird being away from them at first. It’s not like you’re ever really alone here but it’s different being surrounded by strangers instead of your family.”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “Everything smells different and all the sounds are different than I’m used to.”

“It takes some adjusting,” Louis said, sipping her tea. “I think I slept in Zayn’s coffin with her for at least a month when we were freshmen.”

Harry had a vague flash of a girl with messy green hair that she’d met briefly that night.

“She’s my roommate now,” Louis explained. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if you wanted to come hang out in our room for a bit.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Louis smiled, setting her mug in the sink and leading Harry up to the third floor where the upperclassmen had their rooms. “Hey, Z,” she said when she opened one of the doors, holding it open for Harry to follow.

Zayn looked up from her book, pushing round wire-framed glasses up her nose.

“You know underclassmen aren’t supposed to be up here,” she reminded Louis, not looking particularly bothered by it.

“She had a bad dream,” Louis shrugged, throwing a wink at Harry over her shoulder. “I think it’s my duty as an upperclassman to provide comfort.”

“If Liam gets mad I was asleep the whole time,” Zayn said, going back to her book.

“Of course,” Louis grinned. She climbed into her double-size coffin and sat cross-legged, gesturing to the space beside her. “Or there’s a chair, if you’d rather?”

Harry climbed in beside her and sat down, playing with a loose thread on the cuff of her pajama pants. They talked quietly about the classes they were taking and their lives at home and the pets they’d had growing up until Zayn closed her book and turned off the fairy lights strung across the wall above their coffins to sleep.

Harry yawned, big and long, her fangs fully exposed.

“You’re welcome to sleep here tonight,” Louis offered, seeming shy for the first time since they’d met. “If you want.”

“Like,” Harry said, looking down at the coffin they were already sharing, “here?”

“Yeah,” Louis nodded. “Like I said, I shared with Zayn for a while when we first started school. It helps, like, with the homesickness and stuff. Plus mine’s way more comfortable than those school coffins.”

Harry agreed easily, laying down beside Louis while the older girl lowered the lid of the coffin. The bedding inside was a lot nicer than in Harry’s, the cushion much thicker and softer than the thin foam pad she’d been given downstairs. Harry closed her eyes in the pitch black of the coffin, trying once more to sleep, but all of the emotions she’d been suppressing all day seemed to bubble up within her. She didn’t realize that there were tears in her eyes until Louis pulled her against her side and wiped up the bloody tears with soft fingers.

“Hey,” she whispered, brushing Harry’s hair back from her face. “Hey, you’re alright. It’s okay. I’m with you, you know that. It’s scary being in a new place. We’ve all been there. I’ve got you.”

Harry tucked her face between Louis’ neck and shoulder, sniffling.

“It’s not even that, really,” she said, trying to laugh. “It’s stupid.”

“You don’t seem like the kind of person to say stupid things,” Louis told her, pulling Harry closer and tangling their legs. “Tell me.”

“I was just so worried I wouldn’t make any friends,” Harry said softly, shivering as Louis combed her fingers through her hair. “But you’ve been so nice to me. Everyone has, but especially you.”

“That’s because I like you,” Louis said simply, smiling in the dark.

“I like you too.”

“Good,” Louis grinned. “Now get some sleep. We’ll have to wake up early or Liam will suck me dry. She’d very strict about rules.”

Harry laughed, her eyes still a bit damp, and let herself relax in Louis’ embrace.


	32. "Scared, me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lost Boys AU Part 2!

Harry tried to relax but he still felt on edge surrounded by the leather clad boys. He sat silently while they all ate, politely declining when Zayn offered to share some noodles with him.

“I’m bored,” Niall said when they’d finished, tossing the empty food cartons on the ground.

“Why don’t we go for a dip?” Zayn asked wryly. The other boys laughed, glancing at Harry, but Louis just frowned.

“No,” he said, his face like steel.

“Come on,” Liam laughed, turning to Harry. “Don’t you want to join us?”

“You could be one of us,” Niall grinned.

“I said no,” Louis told them, but the three boys were already leading Harry outside, onto the windy cliff looking over the ocean.

“It’s fun,” Zayn said, stepping closer to the cliff’s edge.

Suddenly he stepped straight off of the rock, disappearing over the side. Harry gasped and rushed forward, trying to see through the thick fog that swirled around the cliff but he could see only darkness.

“What happened?” Harry asked, looking between Niall and Liam and Louis with wide eyes. “Where did he go?”

“He’s fine,” Liam grinned.

“Come on, Harry!” they heard Zayn shout from down below.

“What - ?” Harry said, trying again to see through the fog. “Is there water or something?”

“Yeah,” Liam chuckled, putting his hand on Harry’s shoulder. “It’s a beach. There’s lots of water.”

“But how can you tell where it is?” Harry asked, frowning anxiously. “Or how deep it is? How do you know you won’t hit a rock?”

“It’s fine,” Niall laughed. “We do it all the time. See?”

He took a running leap and flew over the edge, following Zayn into the mist below. Harry couldn’t help the gasp that escaped him at the sight.

“Let’s just go back inside,” Louis said, cupping Harry’s elbow with his fingers. “They’re being stupid.”

“C’mon, Louis,” Liam goaded. “Harry’s tough. He’s one of us - well, almost. Don’t you want him here?”

“I don’t want him getting hurt,” Louis scowled.

“He won’t,” Liam said flippantly.

“Liam, he’s not…” Louis trailed off, biting his lip when he looked at Harry.

“But you want him to be,” Liam smirked. “Well, if you don’t think he can do it…”

“I can do it,” Harry said, trying to sound sure.

“See?” Liam grinned. “He wants to.”

“Harry, don’t,” Louis told him, his eyes pleading.

“Go on,” Liam laughed, clapping his hand on Harry’s back and pushing him closer to the edge. “It’s not so long of a fall.”

“_Harry - !”_

Harry half-jumped half-fell off of the cliff, feeling as though he’d stepped into a cloud. The air whipped around him and he couldn’t help the cry that fell from his mouth, his arms flailing in search of purpose but finding none. He felt his vision going black just as arms wrapped around his chest.

When he woke up it was morning and he was in his bed, with no idea how he’d gotten there. He’d dreamt about flying, about a blue eyed boy holding him tight in his arms as they soared through the stars, but he couldn’t parse out how much of the night before had bled into the dream. He might have thought all of it had been a dream, that he’d never set foot on the boardwalk at all, but there was a black leather jacket draped on the back of his desk chair that smelled like sea spray when he held it up to his face.

Harry went back to the boardwalk that night, and every night for a week, but he didn’t see even a hint of any of the boys he’d met. Gemma kept asking why he was acting weird, why he kept going back to the boardwalk and where he’d gotten the leather jacket he’d taken to wearing. He just kept brushing off her questions, trying to fit together the loose pieces of his memory to figure out what he was missing. Finally he stopped going to the boardwalk altogether, instead holing up in his room every day after school and reading books about witches and illusionists and government mind control conspiracies.

“Come on,” Gemma said one night, swinging around the door frame into his room. “It’s Halloween. You can’t stay in tonight. There’s a huge party at the beach.”

“That’s alright,” Harry said, barely looking up from his book about alien abductions. “Go on without me.”

“Nope,” Gemma declared, dragging him off of the bed and tossing shoes at him. “Mum said I can’t go if you don’t go.”

Harry grumbled but shoved his feet into the sneakers, pulling the leather jacket on over his orange sweater. He dragged his feet behind her all the way to the party and watched her run off to find her friends. The boardwalk had been done up for Halloween, orange and purple lights illuminating big cut outs of monsters that loomed over the party goers. There was a huge stage set up on the sand with a band playing and people dancing but Harry just slinked off to the side to find somewhere to sit.

He was wondering if he could sneak back home, quickly getting bored of watching people run around in costumes, when he felt eyes on the back of his neck.

“I was hoping you’d be here tonight.”

He whipped around to find Louis standing in Harry’s oatmeal cardigan, the soft knit clashing with his torn up jeans and his scuffed motorcycle boots. Harry hadn’t even noticed it was missing, not with everything else that had happened that night.

Harry just frowned at him.

“My jacket looks good on you,” Louis tried.

“Did you drug me?” Harry asked. “Or are you some kind of witch. Or alien or something.”

“Or something,” Louis said, losing some of the confidence that always surrounded him.

“Well are you going to explain it?”

“I can’t here,” Louis told him, looking around.

“Well take me somewhere you can,” Harry scowled. “I’ve been going crazy, trying to figure out what happened.”

“Just follow me, okay?”

Harry glared at him, trying to decide if he should trust Louis enough to follow him again. He sighed and stood up, letting Louis lead him to a more secluded spot beneath the boardwalk.

“So what are you?” Harry asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Louis pursed his lips, thinking hard before he spoke.

“We’re vampires.”

“Ha,” Harry said, turning to leave.

“What, you’d believe witches or aliens before vampires?” Louis asked, grabbing the back of his jacket to stop him from walking away.

“If you say you’re a vampire then prove it.”

Louis opened his mouth and curled his lip back to reveal a pair of dagger-sharp teeth.

“It’s Halloween,” Harry scoffed. “Half the people on this beach have fangs.”

Louis rolled his eyes and began to grow before Harry’s eyes. When Harry looked down he saw Louis’ boots hovering half a foot above the sand. Harry gasped, stepping back.

“You remember flying with me,” Louis said, dropping back down to the ground.

“I thought it was a dream,” Harry said, taking another step back. He stiffened when Louis took a step forward.

“You don’t have to be scared,” Louis said, holding his hands up palm-first.

“Scared?” Harry laughed hollowly. “Me?”

“I won’t hurt you,” Louis promised. “You weren’t supposed to find out like this. My friends were being assholes, showing off. I would have eased you into it a little more.”

“Of course, yeah,” Harry said, a bit hysterically. “I’m sure that would have helped.”

“I’m sorry,” Louis said, looking sad. “At least you know now. I’ll leave you alone.”

Louis started to walk away, going the opposite direction of the party. Harry bit his lip as he watched him get further away.

“Wait,” he said softly. Louis turned, hearing him despite the distance.

Louis waited.

“Are there more vampires than the four of you? And do you drink blood? Of course you drink blood if you’re vampires. But where do you get it? Can you only drink human blood? And how did Niall make the rice look like bugs? And - ”

Louis’ smile grew as he walked back to Harry, stopping him by touching his hand.

“I can tell you anything you want to know,” he said.

Harry looked at him, the way the ocean breeze blew his hair lightly around his face and the way his eyes shone even in the lowest light.

“Why me?” he asked, Louis’ hand still on his own. “If you’d just brought me with you to drink my blood or something then you could have grabbed anyone, but you didn’t hurt me.”

“I’m not going to,” Louis promised again, squeezing Harry’s hand. “I brought you with me because I liked you. I do, I mean. You’re cute.”

“Oh,” Harry said, looking down at their hands. “I do too. Like you, I think. I did at least, without all the weird stuff. But maybe still.”

“I could work with that,” Louis grinned, intertwining their fingers. “Could I take you out, do you think? I could answer all your questions then.”

“Maybe,” Harry said, biting his cheek. “Do you promise not to suck my blood? Not even a little?”

“Not even a little?” Louis asked, pretending to be put out before grinning and swishing his finger over his heart. “Cross my heart. You can stake me if I try.”

“Alright,” Harry said, the smile he’d been trying to hold down slipping free.

They walked hand-in-hand over the sand back to the party, Harry still in Louis’ jacket and Louis still in Harry’s sweater.


End file.
